If Taylor Swift is the Albatross, Who is the Mariner?

I am more of a ‘casual’ Taylor Swift fan, so my insights into “The Albatross” may not be as insightful as a more seasoned ‘Swiftie’. One aspect of Swift’s songwriting that I have always found interesting is the nature of how she incorporates works into her songwriting. Instead of a lyrical retelling of the song, such as Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”, Swift’s literary themes in her works are more symbolic. She highlights the parts of the work that relate to her life, it is more than a lyrical retelling. A prime example of this would be her song “tolerate it” from Evermore (2020). For “tolerate it”, Swift took inspiration from Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca. In an interview with Apple Music in 2020, Swift talks about how the song related to her own life. She said, “‘Wow, her husband just tolerates her. She’s doing all these things and she’s trying so hard and she’s trying to impress him and he’s just tolerating her the whole time.’ There was a part of me that was relating to that, because at some point in my life, I felt that way”. I am not going to speculate when or why she felt that way, but Swift saw in herself the same pain that Du Maurier’s unnamed main character went through, and created a song that bridged the gap between life and fiction.

Since I study English, I have always been drawn to the songs of hers that contain these literary elements, and I was excited when the internet dubbed The Tortured Poets Department as the ‘album for English majors’. When it was revealed that “The Albatross” would be a bonus track, it felt as if she had a copy of our Capstone syllabus, and knew that we were reading “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” for class. When discussing “Rime”, a big theme that I was interested in was the vagueness of religious symbolism. The updated versions Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, as well as the marginal notes only add to the confusion of the message. As time progressed, Coleridge found faith in the Anglican Church, and the earlier versions seem to highlight the doubts and uncertainties he had. Swift is Christian, but religion is not something she speaks much about, in relation to her own thoughts and beliefs. In spite of this, her songwriting is not devoid of religious imagery, a quick Google search will result in various Christian denomination blogs ascribing lyrics to their own beliefs. The opening lyrics for “The Albatross” mention wise men, and immediately I wondered if this was a reference to the Biblical Magi. I do not think so now, but it got me thinking. I looked up “Taylor Swift wise men”, and her 2019 song “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” was the first hit, with the lyric, I'm feeling helpless, the damsels are depressed / Boys will be boys then, where are the wise men?”. It is interesting to see the recurring motifs in Swift’s work, as the wise men in “The Albatross” have damning words to say about the eponymous bird, likening it to “‘One bad seed kills the garden" / ‘One less temptress, one less dagger to sharpen’”. The two songs call upon very different wise men. 

Speculation about the topics of the songs on The Tortured Poets Department are very popular right now, due to the album's newness. The songs seem to be written about ex boyfriend Joe Alwyn, summer fling Matty Healy, and current boyfriend Travis Kelce. This song seems to fit the nature of her relationship with Joe Alwyn the most. The couple dated for six years before splitting up last year, and a theme featured on the album is lamenting the time lost. The chorus on the song discusses Swift herself as the albatross, which would make Alwyn by that logic the Mariner. This is thought provoking, as the Mariner seems doomed to travel about the world and share his tale of how he killed the albatross and all the trouble that came in the wake of the killing to any who will listen, and the poem focuses on him telling a wedding guest trying to enter a church for a wedding. The poem never explicitly says if the bird was a good or a bad omen, even though the bird’s death is the catalyst for all that follows. Could this be Swift working through the breakup, likening the end of the relationship to the Mariner shooting the albatross? Six years is a long time, and a lot of the tracks on Swift’s 2019 album Lover are about Alwyn, such as “Paper Rings”, which contains themes of marriage. This article from Her Campus discusses all the times marriage was mentioned or referenced in The Tortured Poets Department. All these allusions suggest that Swift was ready for marriage, but Alwyn was not. The Mariner does not seem to be a wedding guest, he just delays the wedding guest from going into the ceremony. Could that also be Alywn and Swift, delaying her from entering [her own] wedding? This sees Alwyn as not a participant, not a guest, just holding her back. 

I cannot say for certain that my analysis of “The Albatross” is what Swift actually meant. I enjoy her foray into Romantic era poets, as well as the Easter eggs she puts out. Another track on the album is called “Clara Bow”, after the silent film actress. It has been noted that Bow starred in a 1925 silent film called The Ancient Mariner, loosely based off of Colerige’s poem. The film is now considered to be lost media, a fate that is not uncommon for silent era films. Regardless, it is an example of how Swift always does her research. Whatever the meaning of “The Albatross” is, or how much or how little it relates to “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, it was still fun to analyze it and get inside the mind of Taylor Swift.