Stars Around My Scars: The Annotated Poetry of Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift Annotated Poetry)

Amazing deep dive into some of Swifts best lyrics. From her early years to her most recent TTPD, the author covers songs from each Era, delivering new insights and ways to read deeper into the lyrics of our modern day Shakespeare or Plath.

Bought this after seeing someone else review it and I’m so happy I got it :) I love looking at Taylor lyrics from a new lens!!! This is a great gift for swifties

Interesting subject matter. I love TS and her music so this was a natural fit for me. The book was a little difficult to read digitally due to the size of the pages. It was also weird to zoom in and read it in pieces. The actual book is much easier to read. Enjoyed this one.

Stars Around My Scars by Elly McCausland analyses 46 songs from the over 300 song discography of Taylor Swift, covering each of Taylor's eleven eras as of publication. (TS12 had not dropped yet) As a Swiftie who's been analyzing Swift's lyrics for many years, I found this to be a great introduction especially focusing on the literary references made as well as referencing where Taylor has or might be referencing past/future songs. I also appreciate that the author respectfully touched on the possible queer interpretations. Overall, I would recommend this to new fans or casual fans looking to shift to lyrical analysis. I would not particularly recommend this book to the seasoned easter egg hunters although the reading list provided at the beginning might prove insightful. I also want to say that I found this book especially enjoyable as before I started, I made a playlist with the songs included. Though I had to pause several times, and repeat songs as necessary I found listening to the song I was reading about really leveled up the experience.

Excellent book. She shares Taylor’s lyrics and writes annotations on each song. 🎶 it is a great concept. All Swifties NEED this book. Throughly enjoyable.

Nice

Amazing and insightful read

I ordered the book, “Stars Around My Scars: The Annotated Poetry of Taylor Swift” by Elly McCausland, Ph.D. to revisit my graduate school days when I would conduct analysis of poems by Wallace Stevens, Alice Walker, Hemingway, Frost, and others. I must confess that I cannot recite, hum, or even remember a single lyric of a song by Taylor Swift – her music exists outside my sphere of interest. I appreciate the analytical approach that Dr. McCausland took to craft her review of Ms. Swift’s poems/songs. It was genius to list the literary references underlying Ms. Swift’s poems on page 13 of this book. I also appreciate the glossary of literary terms that begins on page 230. The glossary was extremely helpful since it has been over two score since I have been in a graduate course attempting to understand and defend my interpretation of the work of an obscure poet. One can tell that Dr. McCausland enjoyed her work on this book. Her review of “Death by a Thousand Cuts” (page 112); “Daylight” (page 116); “hoax” (page 138); and “Hits Different” (page 188) are exquisite. Her best review was of “So Long, London” (page 198). She delved extensively into the references, structures, and feelings that Ms. Swift infused in this particular song (poem). The layout of the book is perfection. I love the font selections. I particularly loved the light purple script used to represent Dr. McCausland’s interpretation. I intend to keep this book handy because it will help me become a better writer. Brave!

Shipped quickly and came as expected. Was a gift for a friend and she loved it

The perfect deep dive into Taylor’s lyrics for fans who love wordplay and literature. Beautifully designed and will help you think about the songs in new ways. Can’t wait for the sequel!

This book is a must-have for every Swiftie! Elly McCausland he has really gone in depth with analyzing Taylor's songs. She shows readers just how deeply intentional Taylor is with her songwriting and also highlights the poetic devices and imagery most frequently used by her. I love how she has literally underlined and circled Taylor's lyrics to directly show the different poetic techniques and highlight certain words etc. This book helps understand the messages of her songs even better or discover things for yourself that you didn't notice before when listening to the songs. Can't wait for the part two!

Perfecto para regalar. Los comentarios “manuscritos” sobre las letras son muy originales. Vienen bastantes canciones comentadas.

Ha sido un regalo y le ha encantado. Un análisis de los versis de la canción per se y otro general para explicarla en su conjunto. La única pega es que contiene pocas canciones, 1 o 2 por cd, de ahí las 4 estrellas.