Literary Couples as Taylor Swift Songs
November 14, 2022 | Dara Marie | @thornfield_lane
One of my favorite things about music is its ability to create a mood.
“What kind of music do you like?” is difficult to answer because it entirely depends on the circumstances. Where am I? What am I doing? Who am I with? What mindset am I in? My workout playlist is vastly different from my reading one. And my realistic fiction background soundtrack is not my gothic one, at that.
Because of this, I really love specific playlists. The few I’ve created for my fictional project are filled with songs that remind me of characters, the overall story, or a specific scene. I also love finding playlists others have made about books, characters, or fictional settings.
Taylor Swift, without fail, has found her way on most of the playlists I’ve recently listened to, whether created by me or another. I only recently got into her and have a particular love for her albums Folklore and Evermore which give so many literary moods. I’ve started associating some of her songs with books and decided to solidify them in my mind.
So, today, I’m breaking down which of her songs best represents literary couples (seeing as how she’s notorious for love/break-up songs).
Red (Taylor’s Version)
Song: All Too Well (10 Minutes Version)
Book: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Couple: Fontaine and Felix
Inspiration lyric: “Just between us, did the love affair maim you, too?”
Fontaine is, for me, the most tragic character in literature. Reading about her decline into prostitution to support her daughter and her subsequent death ripped my heart out and I have yet to recover. The start of her fall begins with Felix, a young aristocrat living it up in the city with his friends and making her his mistress. He abandons her with their child the moment he’s had enough fun and it’s time to return home to his family duties.
It’s a love affair that ‘maims’ her and I’ve no doubt she ‘remembers it all too well’ for the rest of her unhappy life.
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Reputation:
Song: New Year’s Day
Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Couple: Natasha and Pierre
Inspiration Lyric: “I want your midnights, but I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s day.”
Natasha and Pierre are the definition of a slow-burn romance because it’s not until the last eighth (if that) of the over one-thousand-page novel that they get together. This is mostly due to Pierre. He loves her right from the start but does not feel worthy of her. He even helps his best friend win her affection first because he’s convinced she will be happier. He’s the shoulder she cries on when tragedy happens and will go to the end of the world for her but only admits his true feelings years later.
This song perfectly captures that. The lyrics are from the perspective of someone staying behind after a party to help someone clean up when they really want to have been the one they were kissing the previous night.
It sums them up so well.
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Folklore:
Song: the 1
Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Couple: Natasha and Andrei
Inspiration Lyric: “And if my wishes came true, it would have been you…it would’ve been fun if you would’ve been the one.”
Natasha and Andrei are the couple I mentioned in the previous one that Pierre helps get together.
They are beyond beautiful together; she helps him out of his depression while he grounds her. However, things conspire to keep them apart and their own faults get in the way of their being together. When they reunite years later, it’s clear the love is still there even if there’s no chance for a future.
As much as I love Pierre and am happy for him ending up with Natasha, a part of me will always wish she was with Andrei, instead.
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Song: Cardigan
Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Couple: Amy and Laurie
Inspiration Lyric: “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.”
While the youngest child is typically spoiled, Amy felt left out and in the shadow of her older sisters, especially Jo. The qualities that have made her annoying to many readers are responses to trying to feel seen and important. Laurie gave that to her; he was always kind and picked her up when she needed it.
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Song: Illicit Affair
Book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Couple: Anna and Vronsky
Inspiration Lyric: “And that’s the thing about illicit affairs…it’s born from just one single glance but it dies, and it dies, and it dies a million little times.”
I know it seems unoriginal to pair this song with a couple that’s infamous for having an illicit affair, but the lyrics are incredibly poignant. Their relationship starts without emotional connection and the last half of the book shows how fleeting such a union can be and how damaging the consequences.
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Song: Invisible String
Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Couple: Jane and Rochester
Inspiration Lyric: “And isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?”
The main reason I chose this song is that the imagery of an ‘invisible string’ reminds me of when Rochester tells Jane:
“I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you. And if you were to leave I'm afraid that cord of communion would snap. And I have a notion that I'd take to bleeding inwardly.”
It just fits so well!
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Song: Peace
Book: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Couple: Katniss and Gale
Inspiration Lyric: “Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”
I am fully team Peeta. I don’t know what thirteen-year-old me was doing not being able to pick between the two men: it’s clearly Peeta.
Anyway, this line reminds me of Katniss explaining letting Gale walk out of her life. She says she has enough of her own fire without his. They’re too similar in the worst ways that he wouldn’t be able to help her heal from everything she went through. He ‘could never give’ her ‘peace’.
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Evermore:
Song: ‘tis the damn season
Book: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Couple: Marianne and Connell
Inspiration Lyric: “And the road not taken looks real good now and it all leads back to you in my hometown.”
Ah, Marianne and Connell. The couple so undeniably, madly in love with each other but cannot communicate their feelings to save their lives so they keep drifting apart only to be brought back together again. This song was made for them. It especially reminds me of when they’re home on break and run into each other in the grocery store after not talking for months, leading to them rekindling their friendship.
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Midnights:
Song: Maroon
Book: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab
Couple: Addie and Henry
Inspiration Lyric: “And I chose you–the one I was dancing with in New York.”
This song reminds me of this couple in many ways, even down to the New York setting. I love how the beginning of each verse in this song talks about a couple being in an apartment with their feet in each other’s laps, just lost in themselves. It feels like a safe place; Addie and Henry, for me, felt like an escape for each other. They could forget their pain and fear when together and just enjoy themselves and all the wonders of New York City.
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Song: Midnight Rain
Book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Couple: Jo and Laurie
Inspiration Lyric: “He wanted a bride, I was making my own name–chasing that fame.”
Is this cliche? Totally. Does it fit, though? Yup.
Jo’s ambition was to become a writer; that was her mission throughout the whole novel. With her head strength, nothing was going to get in her way. While I feel bad for Laurie, I know I likely would have done the same and chosen ambition over a relationship I wasn’t ready for.
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Song: The Great War
Book: The Iliad by Homer / Classic Greek Mythology
Couple: Paris and Helen
Inspiration Lyric: “The bombs were close and my hand was the one you reached for all through the Great War.”
Netflix’s miniseries Troy: Fall of a City has kept this couple in my mind’s forefront for months. While I have many complaints about the show, these characters were raw, dynamic, gripping, and incredibly well-written and performed. Their love was palpable and many of my favorite scenes were when they clung to each other for comfort from their guilt during the war. This song instantly made me think of them.
What Taylor Swift songs do you associate with books/literary characters? I'd love to hear from you! You can connect with me through thornfield.lane@gmail.com or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter: @thornfield_lane.
