Trinity Professors Teach Joint Course on Taylor Swift

This spring, two professors are bringing Taylor Swift to Trinity University.

Well, not literally, more like literarily—and philosophically.

In their course, “Taylor Swift as Literary and Recording Artist,” Andrew Kania, Ph.D., and Betsy Tontiplaphol, Ph.D., are bringing together the disciplines of philosophy and English to analyze two central aspects of Swift’s artistry: the literariness of her song lyrics and the aesthetic implications of her “Taylor’s Versions” project.

This interdisciplinary course is the 2025 Lennox Seminar. Made possible by the Martha, David, and Bagby Lennox Foundation, the Lennox Seminar is both a course and a lecture series that invites four visiting professors to campus to offer different perspectives on the chosen theme. And this year, that theme is Taylor Swift.

With a music career spanning almost two decades and encompassing 14 GRAMMY awards, and coming off her international Eras Tour, there’s no doubt that Taylor Swift is one of the most successful and influential musicians and cultural icons of our time.

After the publication of a collection titled Taylor Swift and the Philosophy of Re-recording: The Art of Taylor's Versions and Tontiplaphol’s co-edited collection The Literary Taylor Swift: Songwriting and Intertextuality in the fall of 2024, Kania and Tontiplaphol decided to team up to teach a course inspired by their shared scholarly interest in Swift.  

“Swift is a global phenomenon, at the height of her popularity,” Tontiplaphol says. “Although courses on Swift have cropped up at universities around the world, our course is unique in its focus on both literary-critical and art-philosophical approaches to Swift. We've designed our course to encourage students to think not only about Swift's artistry but also about the relationship between literary studies and philosophical studies. We're excited to ask questions about Swift, and we're excited to ask questions about the questions we ask about Swift.”

The course is open to both Swifties and non-Swifties alike, and students of all majors are welcome. “Taylor Swift as Literary and Recording Artist” counts toward an upper-division English or philosophy course. Alongside readings and short response papers on scholarly essays in literary criticism and philosophy of the arts, the students will read famous poems, analyze lyrics, and listen to musical recordings.

In this way, the course encourages students to see the literariness of music and the musicality of literature.

“Listeners can absolutely enjoy (or, of course, criticize) Swift without having studied her work in a university classroom; art, especially ‘popular’ art, doesn't require scholarly consumers,” Tontiplaphol says. “That said, however, art—like other human productions, systems, and institutions—often becomes more meaningful, valuable, and even useful when viewed through a scholarly lens. That's one of the premises of liberal learning: When we study broadly, we are freer because such study enables us to ‘see into the life of things.’  That quotation is from William Wordsworth, whom Swift namedrops in ‘the lakes.’”

Additionally, as the Lennox Seminar, the course presents students with the unique opportunity to engage with four Swiftie scholars. Each visiting scholar will present a public lecture on Wednesday evening and then participate in Kania and Tontiplaphol’s course, leading the seminar the following afternoon.

While “Taylor Swift as Literary and Recording Artist” is full for the semester, the evening lectures are free and open to the entire campus community and the general public. Mark your calendars for the following lectures: 

"Swiftie Poetics"

Wednesday, February 5  | 7:30 p.m. | Chapman Auditorium

Rachel Feder, Ph.D., University of Denver

"Why We Love Love Songs: Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, and Disinterest"

Wednesday, March 26 | 7:30 p.m. | Chapman Auditorium

John Dyck, Ph.D., Auburn University

"Princess, Prince, or Villain? Taylor Swift and the Disneyfication of Pop"

Wednesday, April 9 | 7:30 p.m. | Chapman Auditorium

Katie Kapurch, Ph.D., Texas State University

"Taylor Swift and Queer Politics: Parasocial Expectations and Exceptions"

Wednesday, April 23 | 7:30 p.m. | Chapman Auditorium

Ley Cray, Ph.D., New Mexico State University

For more information on the 2025 Lennox Seminar Series lectures, visit events.trinity.edu.