Taylor Swift: A Living Legend in Melody and Storytelling Inspires Stanford University’s Innovative Academic Pursuit

Fans of Taylor Swift suddenly have a reason to rejoice. Recent reports suggest Stanford University is currently offering a course. This course is “The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling with Taylor Swift Through the Eras.”

As a part of the school’s student-initiated course initiative, a student, Ava Jeffs introduced the new subject.

Jeffs explained the advantages of the training to The Mercury News during their interview. The course’s main objective is to delve deeply into the craft of songwriting. Students will examine how literary allusions, lyricism, and storytelling interact throughout Taylor Swift’s entire career. 

“We’ll do this one album at a time and try to trace the development of songwriting as a narrative form”

“Students will learn about storytelling, the power of music and make comparisons to classic works of poetry and literature in each album.”

What Will This Course Offer?

It’s interesting that the new course will be the second Swift-inspired course that students will study. This year, the university started offering a course called All Too Well (Ten Week Version) to its students. The song All Too Well (Taylor’s Version) by Swift served as its inspiration.

In contrast to existing courses, the new Swift course will offer “satisfactory” or “non-satisfactory” ratings, with no effect on students’ Grade Point Averages (GPAs).

Luisa Rapport, a spokesman for Stanford, said that just a few student-initiated courses are taught each quarter. These classes, fall under the heading of “activity courses”. It will give students the chance to discover their passions and pursue personal growth. 

The Swift Code Decoded

According to reports, Stanford University professor Mark McGurl is in charge of regulating academic honesty and grading for the newly offered course.

Prior to that, in February 2022, the Clive Davis Institute at New York University began offering a course on Taylor Swift’s professional life. The singer delivered the commencement address at NYU’s graduation that same year. 

A course on Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and David Beckham is also taught in some of the most prestigious colleges in the world in addition to one on Taylor Swift.

Also Read: Study Abroad: 6 International Universities Offering Taylor Swift Courses

For more such exciting news updates, also make sure you contact Leverage Edu to start your study abroad Journey.