Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef find place in English syllabi as students 'love the drama'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: High school English syllabus in the US is evolving with a little help from the musical artists of this generation, including Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar.
A new generation of middle and high school students are learning to appreciate traditional poetry and literature, thanks to the creations of contemporary artists.
Of late, several teachers throughout America are using Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and Lamar’s much-talked-about rap battle with Drake to understand poetry, per HuffPost.
Taylor Swift gaining prominence in English syllabus
English teachers across the country are cashing in on the popularity of Swift’s ‘TTPD’ to inculcate an appreciation for poetry in their students.
Kim Randolph, a seventh-grade honors English teacher in Denton, Texas and a hardcore Swiftie herself, used the album to introduce her students to the works of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and songwriter-poet Patti Smith.
Randolph shared, per HuffPost, “The boys immediately latched on to ‘Fortnight,’ but only because they were thinking of Fortnite the game,” before adding, “But that led us into a fun conversation about the word ‘fortnight’ and where they might encounter it in the real world.”
Another teacher from Marshalltown, Iowa, Katherine Mummert went ahead of time and introduced Swift in her course two years ago.
Mummert, an ELA teacher for grades nine through 12 at an alternative high school, introduced the course titled “Taylor Swift and 19th Century Literature: A Comparison of Themes.”
For the course, the students compare Swift’s vast musical canon with the poetry of Victorian poets like Robert Browning.
Mummert shared, “We watch her live performances and music videos and read through the lyrics line by line,” before explaining, “Once we have a grasp on what Swift’s intended message is, we look at a piece of literature from the 19th century that discusses the same thematic topics.”
She shared that students’ favorite is ‘No Body. No Crime’, where they love to compare the song with ‘Porphyria’s Lover’.
Kendrick Lamar gets a special mention
Besides Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef has also garnered unprecedented attention from the young students.
Randolph, for example, not only uses Swift’s album to teach the students literary (and interesting) examples of similes and metaphors, but also makes good use of the Lamar-Drake rap battle as an example of literary battles.
Randolph shared, “Middle schoolers love drama, so this is right up their alley.”
Recently, in a widely circulated TikTok, a high school English teacher, who goes by the name @stillateacher, opened up about the effects of the feud among the students and shared the students are convinced of Lamar's win.
The teacher shared, “They were ready to throw down for Kendrick,” before adding, “I have students who hate reading who are doing the most meticulous close reading of these lyrics that I have ever seen. They’re finding subtle quadruple-entendres [in Lamar’s work] and explaining them eloquently to their peers.”
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