A Lyrical Analysis of Taylor Swift’s “The Albatross” — Part 2

Let’s continue our journey dissecting “The Albatross” by Taylor Swift. If you haven’t read the first part yet, click this link to catch up before diving into this article.

We’re now onto the fourth verse, the second chorus of the lyrics.

Cross your thoughtless heart
Only liquor anoints you
She’s the albatross
She is here to destroy you
Devils that you know
Raise worse hell than a stranger
She’s the death you chose
You’re in terrible danger

In this verse, the speaker repeats lines that highlight the mockery of a solemn oath and the consequences for those who made the oath. This is followed by new lines: “Devils that you know/Raise worse hell than a stranger.” These lines are my favorite in the poem. Once again, the speaker employs enjambment to underscore the lurking danger right before their eyes. The lines suggest that someone familiar to us can hurt us even more because they know our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, unlike a stranger who knows nothing about us. It also implies that the albatross knows their vulnerabilities and can exploit them further. Then, we have “She’s the death you choose/You’re in terrible danger.” Here, the speaker uses the word “death” to convey that the albatross could be their undoing, and it’s their own choice that makes her dangerous.

And when that sky rains fire on you
And you’re persona non grata
I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too
And that none of it matters

We’ve reached the bridge of this song. The speaker begins with an anaphor, repeating the word “and” in the first two lines: “And when that sky rains fire on you/And you’re persona non grata.” The first line paints a vivid imagery of a sky ablaze with bombs or missiles raining down. The speaker also uses the term “persona non grata,” often found in diplomatic and international relations contexts. This term means an unwelcome person, suggesting a broader background to the story. It indicates that the catastrophe will have far-reaching effects, as suggested by the phrase “sky rains fire” and the use of diplomatic terminology typically associated with nations. This implies the significant impact of the albatross.

The bridge closes with the lines: “I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too/And that none of it matters.” The speaker uses enjambment, which creates a contrast between the two lines. Initially, the men seem to be sharing their own experiences, implying that there may be something to learn from them. However, in the next line, this notion is abruptly dismissed, as the men declares that his experiences hold no significance. This shift in tone suggests a sense of disillusionment or resignation, highlighting the futility of drawing lessons from past experiences. Additionally, it could be interpreted as a reflection of the men’s emotional state, indicating a sense of hopelessness or nihilism in the face of adversity.

I’ve shared my favorite lines, but the following verse is my favorite part of the poem.

Wise men once read fake news
And they believed it
Jackals raised their hackles
You couldn’t conceive it
You were sleeping soundly when they dragged you from your bed
And I tried to warn you about them

This verse shows how cleverly the speaker retells the story. If you compare it to the long original poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the word “wise” only appears once, at the end of the poem.

Here’s the end of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.

But in this version, the speaker repeats it over and over again, creating an anaphor, and ends it in this third verse. The original poem shows the birth of the wise men after all the turmoil he caused. In this version, the speaker writes “Wise men once read fake news/And they believed it,” marking the end of the wise men’s reputation because they believed fake news and it led to their downfall. This is also the last time the speaker mentions “wise men.” In the next line, the speaker writes “Jackals raised the hackles.” Here, the speaker uses jackals as a symbol of a significant downgrade from being wise men to being portrayed as jackals, who are ruthless predators known for preying on the misfortune or vulnerability of others for their own gain. They became enraged because they were deceived by false information. The speaker uses imagery to depict the brutality of the situation by adding the next line “You couldn’t conceive it.”

After the brutal imagery in the previous lines, we encounter another striking contrast in this verse. In the next line, the speaker writes “You were sleeping soundly when they dragged you from your bed.” The line suggests a sense of peace, indicated by the phrase “sleeping soundly,” portraying the person as being in their most vulnerable state while asleep. There’s a gentle alliteration in “sleeping soundly,” the “sh” sounds. It’s creating a peaceful and soft atmosphere at the beginning of the line. However, it’s followed by a harsh word and sound, “they dragged you from bed.” Here, we hear a harsh alliteration from the “arr” sounds. This harsh sound is starkly contrasting compared to the previous soft alliteration. It also creates an imagery of the person being abruptly and forcefully disturbed from their vulnerable state.

The verse is closed with “And I tried to warn you about them,” which is a repetition from the previous closing verses. This sentence depicts that the men already warned the albatross about the brutality of the people who see her as a danger. It’s also the final warning, as we won’t see this repetition again until the end of the poem. This implies that the turmoil has come to an end.

So I crossed my thoughtless heart
Spread my wings like a parachute
I’m the albatross
I swept in at the rescue
The devil that you know
Looks now more like an angel
I’m the life you chose
And all this terrible danger

This is the final chorus and like the previous choruses, it begins with the repetition of the solemn oath “So I crossed my thoughtless heart,” but this time we hear the oath from the perspective of the albatross. The speaker still uses the word “thoughtless” in this repetition, even though it’s from the perspective of the albatross. I interpret this as suggesting that the albatross is actually just like the people who fear her, and there’s no real reason to fear her because they are all the same. However, the spread of fake news and negative rumors about her has caused people to perceive her as different from the rest of them.

The second line of this last chorus differs from the previous ones. The speaker writes “Spread my wings like a parachute.” Wings symbolize freedom, an angelic vibe, and transformation, while “parachute” often brings feelings of safety, protection, and courage. This suggests the true nature of the albatross, showing she is completely different from how people talk about her. The next line implies that she’s embracing her identity as the speaker writes “I’m the albatross.” This nods to the line in the first verse of this poem, inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but this time the speaker refers to the original version of Shakespeare’s line “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Despite people talking negatively about her, she remains the albatross who actually brings luck and guidance. This is evident in the following line “I swept in at the rescue,” which depicts the albatross intervening or coming to the aid of someone in need, often dramatically or decisively, amidst the chaos caused by people who think she’s dangerous. It implies that instead of being the danger and bringing disaster to those who hate her, the albatross took action to help or save someone from a difficult or dangerous situation. This phrase carries connotations of heroism, bravery, and assertiveness.

The next line repeats from the previous chorus, “the devil that you know,” but this time the speaker employs juxtaposition by continuing the enjambment with “looks now more like an angel.” It also suggests that familiarity can alter perception. Here, the speaker contrasts the perception that people had toward her with the true nature of the albatross by using the words “devil” and “angel.”

The speaker concludes the last chorus with “I’m the life you choose/And all this terrible danger.” We heard a similar line in the previous chorus, “She’s the death you choose.” In the previous line, the men define the albatross as death. However, this time, the albatross defines herself by saying “I’m the life you chose.” Once again, we see a juxtaposition between these similar lines. The speaker uses the words “death” and “life” as a stark contrast to portray how much people’s perception of her has shifted. But in the next line, “And all this terrible danger,” the speaker repeats the same words because the catastrophe that happened is caused by the people who despise the albatross, not by the albatross itself.

So, we’ve finally reached the end of the poem.

So cross your thoughtless heart
She’s the albatross
She is here to destroy you

Here, the speaker concludes the poem by repeating the chorus lines. Despite all the positive actions mentioned in the previous chorus, the speaker still uses the line “she is here to destroy you” to end the poem. From my interpretation, it feels like despite all the help and the albatross showing her true nature, people still perceive her as a threat.

Alright! That marks the end of the detailed analysis, part by part, of “The Albatross” by Taylor Swift. I tried to analyze the poem objectively, without injecting my knowledge about Taylor Swift, to understand the poem clearly.

Now that we’ve concluded the analysis, here are my thoughts relating to Taylor Swift.

Reflecting on Taylor Swift’s journey as one of the most famous people on earth, I see that she portrays herself as The Albatross in this story. We can trace this narrative back to 2016 when many people turned against her due to that infamous phone call. False information about her spread widely, causing her to withdraw from the world. However, there were still those, like “the men” in The Albatross, who saw her for who she truly was. This might be a reference to Joe Alwyn. However, I believe The Albatross emphasizes more on how the world perceived her as something she’s not because the portrayal of “the men” in “The Albatross” is not that significant. Gradually, Taylor also began to reveal her true self to the world, showing that she is far from the person people thought she was before.

But despite all she has done to show who she really is, there are still some people who think negatively about her, as we see in the end of the poem.

In literature, there’s an allegory, which employs characters, events, and settings symbolically to depict abstract ideas, moral principles, or political concepts. Often, allegories contain multiple layers of meaning, with the primary narrative serving as a vessel for conveying deeper messages or themes.

In another allegorical interpretation that I found on Reddit, Taylor Swift suggests that “The Albatross” also depicts the narrative of people warning men about women like herself. Taylor employs a suspicious tone to illustrate how blame is directed towards ‘the albatross’, highlighting how men often shift blame onto women they’ve been warned about instead of acknowledging their own actions.

That concludes the analysis of “The Albatross.” Thank you for reading my first attempt at an amateur lyrical analysis. Please leave a comment if you noticed any errors or if you have your own interpretation to share. Also, a clap would be greatly appreciated! ❤

Bonus! Here are the annotations I made to analyze “The Albatross.”