HANOI METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
SEMANTICS AND LEXICOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT
Topic: Metaphor in Taylor Swift's
Lyrics
Student’s name
: Nguyen Thi Nhat Linh
Student’s code
: 219601126
Class
: 30ENG023_NNAD2019_4
Hanoi, 8th December 2021
HANOI METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
SEMANTICS AND LEXICOLOGY ASSIGNMENT
Topic: Metaphor in Taylor Swift's
Lyrics
Student’s name
: Nguyễn Thị Nhật Linh
Student’s code
: 219601126
Class
: 30ENG023_NNAD2019_4
Giám khảo 1
Giám Khảo 2
Nguyễn Thị Ánh Nguyệt
Vương Hải Yến
Hanoi, 8th December 2021
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ACKNOLEDGEMENT
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without
the kind support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere
thanks to all of them.
It has been great honor and privileged to undergo training at Hanoi Metropolitan
University. I am highly indebted to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet for her guidance
and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding
the project, and for her support in completing the project. Her constant guidance and
willingness to share her vast knowledge made me understand this project and its
manifestations in great depth and helped me to complete the assigned tasks on time.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents and my friends for their
kind cooperation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project
within the limited time frame.
In addition, I would like to thank the analytical articles published by the schools,
helping me to refer to and complete the article in the best way.
Thank you so much!
Ha Noi, 8th December 2021
Nguyen Thi Nhat Linh
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TABLE OF CONTENT
I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 5
II.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE ....................................................................... 5
1.
Figurative Language ...............................................................................................5
2.
Metaphor ................................................................................................................5
3.
Song ........................................................................................................................6
4.
Lyrics ......................................................................................................................6
III. PLAY ON METAPHORS IN TAYLOR’S SONG LYRICS ..................... 7
1.
Blank Space ............................................................................................................7
2.
Delicate ...................................................................................................................8
3.
Red (Taylor Swift’s Version) .................................................................................9
IV. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 10
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 11
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I.
INTRODUCTION
No one can deny the role of music in human life. People listen to music for a variety of
reasons: to entertain, to relax, to escape from their tiring and frustrating life. A question
can be raised: “How can music get the ability to do all of those tasks?” It is the song lyrics
where we can find the answer. The lyrics have the power to touch and evoke people’s
deepest feelings. This power is created mainly by the author taking advantage of a number
of thetorical methods and Metaphor is one of the most widely used. To be more specific,
metaphor is a hidden comparison which the authors often use to convey their thoughts or
feelings in a very sophisticated way; therefore, those who listen to the songs must spend
some efforts on discovering the hidden message. However, correctly understanding the
meaning of metaphors is not always easy and sometimes the listeners find it really difficult
and confused to figure out the authors’ implication.
Taylor Swift is an American pop and country music singer-songwriter. Her music is often
famous for the lyrics that are implicit to her personal life, and the stories of love. The object
of this study is the metaphor found in the Taylor Swift’s song lyrics.
II.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Semantic is the study of meaning in language. Every human language has a purpose, and
we can study the meaning of semantic. Semantics is one of the wealthiest and most
fascinating parts of linguistics. From this statement, we can know that semantics is a study
about many kinds like lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, denotation meanings,
connotation meanings, etc.
1. Figurative Language
In expressing or describing something, an author conveys a way that is different. An author
in conveying feelings and thoughts also uses language in different way too. It makes
expression of varied thoughts and feelings. Variations in the use of the word, the wording
or language, are called figurative language.
Figurative language generally refers to speech where speakers mean something other than
what they literally say. Figurative language is a language that uses words or expressions
with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation. In addition, figurative
language is used any from of communication, such as in rarely used in daily conversations,
opinion in newspaper, advertisements, novels, poems, etc. Moreover, figurative language
is the use of words that go beyond their ordinary meaning.
2. Metaphor
According to Crowther (1992:564), Metaphor is "the use of a word or phrase to indicate
something different from (though related in some way to) the literal meaning, as in I'll
make him eat his words or She has a heart of stone."
According to Lakoff & Johnson, metaphor is not only a device of the poetic imagination.
Metaphor divided into three groups such as namely: structural metaphor, orientational and
ontological metaphor.
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The structural metaphor is one concept metaphorically structured in terms of another.
(Lakoff & Johnson, 1980).
Orientational metaphor is the concept of forming a number of metaphors, such as “updown”, “front-back”, “in-out”. and “deep-shallow”. Based on speakers’ physical and
cultural experiences, orientational metaphors can be different from one culture to another
(Lakoof & Johnson. 1980. Pp 14).
The ontological metaphor is the metaphorical concept that governs one's perspective in
perceiving the experience as an entity (Lakoff & Johnson 1980. Pp 66).
An example is “time is a substance" it is a metaphor because one senses that time can be
"quantified" and use the specific goal. The metaphor also has many types which are:
1) The standard metaphor is the basis of analogy. In this type. two items are comparing,
side by side, and the meaning is clear. Example: "love is blind" and "patience is a
virtue." In these metaphors, two sentences are compared, and the meaning is clear.
2) Complex metaphor is a combination of standard it is mean that will compare it to
two or more items. Example: "Travel is no more than a sorcerer's cauldron full of
emeralds."
3) A dead metaphor is like a cliche. This metaphor usually uses in literary work. But,
usually, this metaphor uses to invoke an eye roll-on sarcasm. Example: "I'd be lost
without you?" this sentence is deliberately used to mocking irony.
4) Creative metaphor is considered from own idea to make the audience understand
with your words. Example: "The castle door whooshed open, reaching for her faster
than a knight's gauntlet."
5) Extended metaphor is you'll be able to take that metaphor and keep referring back
to it throughout an entire paragraph or the whole of your work. Example: The
character might go on to notice that his gauntlet was colder than her brother's
scowl. This type is romantic. because it is real can refer back to it a time or two
again.
3. Song
Song is a tone or sound art composition in sequence, combination, and the temporal
relationship (usually accompanied by a musical instrument) to produce a musical
composition having unity and continuity (containing rhythm).
Song can be sung solo, duet, trio, or the rollicking. Words in the song are usually shape
rhythmic poetry, but there is also a religious nature or free prose.
Songs can be categorized in many types, depending on the use. And variety of tone or
rhythmic sound is also called the song. According to Hornby (2000: 1281) said that “Song
is a short piece of music with words that you sing”.
4. Lyrics
Lyric are set of words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The
meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost
unintelligible, and in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter,
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and symmetry of expression. A lyric is a paper written by someone who has imagination
in composing beautiful words that have deep meaning. Lyrics and music combined would
be a wonderful song and pleasing to the ear. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist.
According to Hornby (2000:802), he stated that the lyrics is expressing a person‟s feeling
and thoughts, connected with singing and written for a lyric poem is the words of a song.
Herman J. Waluyo (1987) said that poetry is a form of literary work that expresses the
thoughts and feelings of a poet in an imaginative manner and is composed by concentrating
all the power of language on power of language on the physical structure and inner
structure. From the description above, it can be concluded that song lyrics are a form of
literary work that expresses one‟s expression, feeling, thought, or imagination regarding
something that one sees, feels and experiences.
III.
PLAY ON METAPHORS IN TAYLOR’S SONG LYRICS
1. Blank Space
The lyrics of the song deal in a satirical way with the press’ obsession with Taylor Swift’s
romantic relationships. According to Swift, she wrote the song in response to the media’s
perception of her as a serial dater who writes songs as a way to achieve some sort of
“emotional revenge” on her former boyfriends. She said initially she found the media’s
perception of her romantic life hurtful, but as time went on, it began to seem hilarious to
her and eventually led to the birth of the song Blank Space.
Verse 1:
Love's a game, wanna play? (line 7)
This sentence shows the use of metaphor as an implied comparison on the basis of
similarity between literal meaning and the thing or situation.
This phrase is a standard metaphor.
In lexical meaning, “love” means strong feeling of deep affection for somebody or
something (Oxford, 2015), “game” means form of play or sport with rules (Oxford, 2015)
and “play” means doing things for pleasure, as children do, enjoy yourself, rather than
work (Oxford, 2015). Its figurative meaning could be the writer compares love to a game,
there could be cheaters, losers, and winner, but none of it is very serious or important.
When she asks him “wanna play” she is offering him a chance to be on her long list of
exlovers.
Comparing love to a game eventually became a motif in Swift’s discography. She first did
this in October 2012’s “State of Grace”:
Love is a ruthless game
Unless you play it good and right
She compared flirtation to poker on the later 1989 track “New Romantics”:
It’s poker, he can’t see it in my face
But I’m about to play my ace
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The poker metaphor returned in November 2017’s “End Game”:
You’ve been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks
On August 2019’s “Cornelia Street,” she used cheating at a card game as a metaphor for
being secretive about true feelings:
Back when we were card sharks, playing games
I thought you were leading me on
Verse 4:
'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare
Dressed like a daydream
As with the rest of the verse, these lines are meant to be viewed ironically. Taylor's selfview as a nightmare is a metaphor the way the media often does.
In this case, she is portrayed to be someone who lures men in with her good looks but once
they enter into a relationship with her, she becomes crazy and obsessive – and it is like a
nightmare rather than what her current significant other might have perceived her to be.
Besides, the nightmare is recurring and terrible whereas a daydream is usually short and
pleasant. Their love might seem short and pleasant, but realistically? It’s going to come
back and haunt you.
This phrase is a standard metaphor.
2. Delicate
According to Swift herself, the lyrics of “Delicate” are about meeting someone who you
truly love and want to be with but then you suddenly start worrying about the things you
think that they’ve heard about you prior to meeting you. This song is especially focused on
herself. In addition to deeply depicting the loneliness of a superstar after the limelight,
Taylor Swift's Delicate will make each of us sympathize with the thought that "to be truly
yourself, to break all the molds drudgery and decency so that it is as simple as being free
to dance lovingly with our favorite harp without fear of the thoughts and discussions of
people around". Do we really need to be "invisible" " to be "blessed" it?
Chorus:
Is it cool that I said all that?
Is it chill that you're in my head?
'Cause I know that it's delicate (Delicate)
The metaphor in the lyric describes how anxious she is at the beginning of this relationship.
She always thinks of him like he's just hanging around in her head. Getting romantically
involved with someone can be tough because sometimes one may not know where the other
stands, hence why Taylor describes this phase as “delicate.”
This phrase is a standard metaphor.
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Verse 2:
Third floor on the West Side, me and you
Handsome, you’re a mansion with a view
In this metaphor, Taylor is expressing her attraction to a love interest. By describing this
person as “a mansion with a view”, she is expressing that he is both beautiful on the inside
and out. She is attracted to both his personality and his good looks.
This phrase is a creative metaphor.
3. Red (Taylor Swift’s Version)
“Musically and lyrically, Red resembled a heartbroken person,” Swift wrote. “It was all
over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end.
Happy, free, confused, lonely, devastated, euphoric, wild, and tortured by memories past.
Like trying on pieces of a new life, I went into the studio and experimented with different
sounds and collaborators. And I’m not sure if it was pouring my thoughts into this album,
hearing thousands of your voices sing the lyrics back to me in passionate solidarity, or if it
was simply time, but something was healed along the way.”
In this song, you can see that Taylor uses a lot of metaphors in the lyrics to express all the
emotions of love she has been through the last two years. It’s all pretty much all about
messy, crazy, intense, and toxic relationship. All those emotions - ranging from intense
love, intense disappointment, jealousy, confusion - in her mind, all of them were red. There
is nothing beige about any feeling. The song "Red" is undoubtedly about the tropes of
heartbreak.
Verse 1:
Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street
Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly
A Maserati is a luxury Italian sportscar, known for its sleek design and reputation for being
one of the fastest cars in the world. Like driving down a road with no outlet, Swift’s
romance ended abruptly.
This phrase is a creative metaphor.
Chorus:
Losing him was blue, like I'd never known
Missing him was dark gray, all alone
Forgetting him was like
Trying to know somebody you never met
But loving him was red
According to the Dictionary of Americanisms (1848), Blue is associated to tears and
hence, sadness. Similarly, Blue means - Gloomy, severe; extreme, ultra. Whereas Gray can
be perceived as emotionally distant or disconnected.
Taylor uses colors to represent her emotions — blue is sadness and grey is a feeling of
solitude and loneliness.
While Taylor explained her feelings behind the color red in an interview with Good
Morning America:
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“I wrote [“Red”] about the fact that some things are hard to forget because the emotions
involved with them are so intense, and to me intense emotion is red.”
The symbolism of the color red likely changed as the relationship evolved — in the
beginning, it mirrored the passion and the love she had for him, but later came to represent
the painful side that came along with loving him.
Taylor has also explained why “loving him was red” on an interview with SiriusXM Radio:
“Red” kind of correlates all the emotions that I felt during a break-up to colors — like
“losing him was blue”, “missing him was dark grey” —, but the reason you can’t forget
is because loving him was red, which means it was bold, it was crazy, it was out of control,
it was passionate, it was important. To me, the red emotions are the most powerful ones in
the good side and the bad side. On one side, you have affection, infatuation, love, and
warmth, and on the other side, you have anger, jealousy, frustration, miscommunication,
all thos horrible ones. But I think that, no matter what side of it you’re on, you’re feeling
the most amount of emotion you could possibly feel if you’re feeling a red emotion, and
I’ve always referred to those kind of relationships as “red relationships.”
Perhaps for Taylor, love is not only sadness but also fire, burning those emotions that label
as ‘crazy’ emotions, which has been compared to red. Because the crazy emotions that
make us stronger, the ones that test us, the ones that teach us the important lessons in life,
feeling those emotions.
These phrases are used as the creative metaphors.
IV.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the analysis of the data in Taylor's song contained in the previous
section, this draws the following conclusions:
1. There are two metaphors found in Taylor’s song titled “Blank Space”(2014),
“Delicate”(2017), “Red (Taylor Swift’s Version)”(2021). The two types of
metaphor are standard metaphor and creative metaphor. That the most dominant
type of metaphor in Taylor’s song lyrics is creative metaphor with the totals are 5
lyrics, and the last standard metaphor with 3 lyrics.
2. The metaphor used in Taylor's songs is one style of language that is often used in
daily life, both orally and in writing. A metaphor is a linguistic expression that has
an indirect meaning by comparing one thing to another that has the same
characteristics without the use of conjunctions, like, and so on. The results from this
research can be used in language subjects, English. Through Taylor Swift's songs,
we can clearly feel the emotions in love that the singer herself has experienced:
nostalgia, loneliness, strength in love are shown through metaphors written in the
lyrics.
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REFERENCES
1. Metaphors Pop Song, https://andrewdebell.com/metaphors-pop-songs/
2. Meaning Blank Space Taylor Swift,
https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/meaning-blank-space-taylor-swift/
3. Meaning of Delicate by Taylor Swift,
https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/meaning-of-delicate-by-taylor-swift/
4. Giáo trình ngữ nghĩa học Tiếng Anh – English Semantic, To Minh Thanh,
NXB Đại học Quốc gia, TP Hồ Chí Minh, 2007
5. Gibbs, Raymond W. 2012. Interpreting Figurative Meaning. University of
California
6. Pradikta, Dicky Wisnu (2017). Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Love
Metaphors in Ed Sheeran’s Songs. (Undergraduate Thesis), Universitas
Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta.
7. An Analysis of Figurative Expressions in Celine Dion’s Love songs,
Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta. (2021)
8. Semantics Analysis of Robert F Rost’s Selected poems, Faculty of Teachers’
Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara
Medan (2019)
9. Taylor Swift, Blank Space Lyrics, https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-blankspace-lyrics
10. Lakoff. G. & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors We Live by Chicago: University
of Chicago press.
11. Semantic Analysis in the Lyrics of Lenka’s songs,
http://repository.umsu.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/14640/1/SKRIPSI%20WIN
DY%20SASRI
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