Patrick Caro

Mrs Coco
December 7, 2015
Inquiry paper
Audience: Fans of Taylor Swift that wanted something more out of Romeo and Juliet.
Preface: If I had two more weeks to work on my final draft I would send my paper to multiple
peers to edit. This would allow me to know if my sources are good ones to use. Also this gives
me an extra chance to improve my essay. The best way to improve my essay is to have fresh eyes
view it.
Taylor Swifts Retelling of Romeo and Juliet
The classic love story people imagine isnt what happens in the classic love story Romeo
and Juliet. William Shakespeares great tragedy has been retold multiple times for public opinion
including Taylor Swifts Love Story. She retold the most well known piece of literature to give
her audience a happy ending she felt the story ending. Why did Taylor Swift feel the tragedy
needed an alternate ending is another story. There are many modern retellings of classic literature
and the way they are retold provides the person with something that differs from what was
originally intended. Why classic literature is retold and the acceptance of the retellings is a
highly regarded topic that has been analyzed from start to finish by many different scholars.
Taylor Swifts Love story like many other stories is just a retelling of a well know piece of work
with a twist that shows the artists stamp on the piece. How does Taylor Swift use setting, time
period, language variations, moral, and her own inspiration to retell Romeo and Juliet and to
appeal to her fans that wanted to hear what Taylor Swifts alternate ending to Romeo and Juliet?

In Retellings of Literature and the Comprehension Process Yetta Goodman

identified seven aspects that writers use in retelling stories: Socio-cultural-economic
institutions, setting, chronological time, age and sex of characters, language variations, theme or
moral, and readers experience with certain kind of texts (303). This is a wonderful theory
because it gives writers angles to approach while in the process of rewriting text. Taylor Swift
manipulated the time period and setting, but the big thing she did was add her own sort of moral.
William Shakespeare writes tragedies that include character flaws of the protagonists which leads
to their death. Taylor erases the ending of Romeo and Juliet by ending where the main characters
live happy ever after. She does this to show true love can have a happy ending which is her moral
of Love Story.
Classics are rewritten from one era to the next. According to Abridgements and Retellings
of Classics the decision of whether a story can be brought back to life is up to people. Stories are
rewritten to respond to the opinion of the everyday people. Fairy tales are one prime example
that is rewritten to appeal to the current generation. The popular fairy tale Beauty and the Beast
was retold in Robin McKinleys Beauty which transforms an 18th century tale into a 20th century
love story. Peggy Hook one of the authors of Abridgements and retellings of classics written in
the English Journal summarizes Robin McKinleys work as a classic Beauty and the Beast tale
with an almost identical premise but changing the little details from one to the other. In fairy
tales no matter how many times it is rewritten the moral remains true. The moral of Beauty of the
Beast is Beauty is only skin deep which transcribes from one version to the next. A difference
from the original Beauty and the Beast to McKinleys version is the time period and the setting.
The other components of the piece remained the same such as the age of the characters and how
it flowed in a similar chronological order. Peggy Hook described McKinleys mindset by saying

Beauty was written after seeing a television production of Beauty and the Beast and feeling that
she could do better. Though McKinley makes some changes in character and plot, her version
remains faithful to the theme of the classic (English Journal 74). This is a prime example of an
author taking a classic and amending it in a way where they feel they did a better job.
Many occurring retellings are the retellings of fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast was one
example and Snow White is another. Vanessa Joosens Retellings of Snow White between
Magic and Realism, explains the crossing over from the original to the retold version.
Traditional Fairy Tales that appeal to what Anne Wilson calls magical thought can be located on
one side of the spectrum, in the realm of the magical. I will show how many contemporary fairytale retellings make ample use of the space between the ends of the spectrum (229). Fairy tales
are a prime example of a story losing its meaning as it is continuously rewritten. Yes fairy tales
are no William Shakespeare but both piece of literature are classic nonetheless with a moral that
get rewritten over and over again. The original Grimms tale of Snow White was very realistic
with a minor ounce of magic but the story that everyone know has a magic side that makes the
tale more improbable. Fairy tales have been rewritten so much they lose so original meaning of
such simple things. That occurs in Snow White when it comes to the Magic Mirror. The
occurrence of the magic mirror, a speaking object that has an overview of all the lands over
which Snow Whites father rules, and that knows things that the queen herself does not(232).
The mirror can be used as a metaphor, whose function is taken over by another, non-magical
medium that fulfills the same function.(232) Fairy tales in our generation are known so much by
their magical characteristics that their true meaning is lost in translation. That is one of the
biggest aspects that need to be addressed when retelling stories. Taylor Swift although she did a

fine job of retelling Romeo and Juliet but maintaining the same meaning as she transformed the
play of star crossed lovers.
Azlyrics.com provides the lyrics of Taylor Swifts Love Story on its website. This allows
Taylor Swifts fans to see the actual text and is able to decipher it almost in a similar way as a
poem. In order to compare and contrast Love Story to Romeo and Juliet or in order to see the
elements Taylor Swift uses the audience needs the body of text itself.

"Love Story"
We were both young when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts:
I'm standing there on a balcony in summer air.
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.
See you make your way through the crowd
And say, "Hello, "
Little did I know...
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles,
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you, "Please don't go"
And I said...
Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all that's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".
So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew
So close your eyes... escape this town for a little while.
Oh, oh.
'Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet"
But you were everything to me,
I was begging you, "Please don't go"
And I said...
Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all that's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".

Romeo, save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.

This love is difficult but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".
Oh, oh.
I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
And I said...
Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting for you but you never come.
Is this in my head? I don't know what to think.
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said...
Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad - go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby, just say, "Yes".
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
'Cause we were both young when I first saw you

(Azlyrics.com Love Story

The iconic moment in Romeo and Juliet that stands out in a persons mind is the moment
where Romeo and Juliet commit double suicide because they want to be together forever. There
love was so true but was deemed unacceptable. In Taylor Swifts hit song Love Story she creates
a bridge in her song that differs from the ending of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, save me, I've
been feeling so alone. I keep waiting for you but you never come. Is this in my head? I don't
know what to think. He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said... Marry me, Juliet,
you'll never have to be alone. I love you, and that's all I really know. I talked to your dad - go
pick out a white dress its a love story, baby, just say, "Yes"(Azlyrics.com Love Story). This
ending provides a happier ending then provided by William Shakespeare. Instead of Romeo and
Juliet ending in such a tragic way Taylor Swift allows the main characters to end in marriage and
live happy ever after. This changes the entire moral that William Shakespeare wanted to put forth

in the first place. William Shakespeares tragedies provide a character flaw that leads to the
character death. In Romeo and Juliet the character flaws are the naive hopeless romantic
mindsets of young teenagers. Taylor Swift didnt see why that was necessary and changed the
purpose that William Shakespeares tragedy was trying to enforce.
Taylor Swift Shifted time periods to a modern for rebellious era compared to
Shakespearean era. She composed the main characters of her song as two young lovers who
deserved to be together forever. William Shakespeare felt they were naive your lovers which
provides them with a tragic flaw which led there death. This shows the different mindsets of the
two authors. William Shakespeare an experienced realist compared to a young hopeful Taylor
Swift. The completely different mindsets of the authors allowed two completely different
purposes. I as a teenager connect more to Taylor Swifts hopeful Love Story which is a reason
she rewrote Romeo and Juliet. She rewrote Romeo and Juliet for all the teenagers that didnt like
the tragic ending to Romeo and Juliet. Taylor Swift had more motives when it came to her
revision of Romeo and Juliet.
In order for an artist to have vision in writing their own rendition of something they need
to feel the piece isnt expressed correctly. I personally didnt enjoy reading Romeo and Juliet
because I never understood why this story had to be a tragedy. Growing up reading stories with
happy ending had me puzzled when Romeo and Juliet had a fatal end for the star crossed lovers.
I wasnt the only one who thought Romeo and Juliet should have a happy ending. Taylor Swift
wrote love story and ended the story with marriage instead of death. She is an example of a
modern artist retelling a classic piece of literature.
Most artist write about personal experiences when writing stories. Even though Taylor
Swift wrote Love Story with regards to Romeo and Juliet, the story was written about a man in

her personal life. Her family and friends didnt seem to like him. Taylor Swift explained the
problem, Then I was in a situation where it wasn't so easy for me, and I wrote this song because
I could relate to the whole Romeo and Juliet thing. I was really inspired by that story. (Randy
Lewis LA Times Love Story Wikipedia) She described Romeo and Juliet as The only people
that wanted them to be together were them which is why she felt the similarity in her situation.
This proves inspiration is a requirement in writing literature. Her own situation was her much
needed inspiration.
I feel like they had such promise and they were so crazy for each other. And if that had
just gone a little bit differently, it could have been the best love story ever told. And it is one of
the best love stories ever told, but it's a tragedy.(Randy Lewis LA Times Love Story Wikipedia)
Taylor Swift stated perfectly what so many people felt including me. Taylor Swifts Love Story
turned a five hundred year old tragedy into a Love story. Like any popular piece of work it needs
to relate to the want of the current people. The public became so receptive of the song in 2009;
Love Story was the Country Song of the Year by Broadcast Music Incorporated. (BMI News
Love Story Wikipedia).
Love Story and Romeo and Juliet differ in so many ways. A major way is the way they
were written. One was written as a tragic play while the other was written as a pop song. The
language variation changes from one type of literature to the next. In order to understand Taylor
Swifts Love Story you have to understand the mechanics behind pop music. A social economic
explanation for the advent of pop music by Wilfred Dolfsma best explains pop music by stating,
By consuming pop music, people want to express who they are, to which group they belong,
what their identity this. Peoples identity however and contrary to what many believe, is not
strictly individual. Instead, peoples identity is highly social and draws on the socio-cultural

values in society (1019). This sociology glance on pop music best explains pop music as stating
who you are but at the same time pleasing the public. Taylor Swifts Love Story falls into that
category because she uses her own personal experience to broadcast her message but at the same
time she connected to so many people that believed Romeo and Juliet should have ended
differently.
Retellings are an artists chance to tell their true desires of a piece of work but at the same
time abiding to the moral and theme put in place by the original version. Although the majority
of times we see retellings are in fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast or Snow white, any story
can be retold to fit the writers need. Retellings are made for the author but at the time they do it
for the people. Taylor Swift did that elegantly giving the people the ending they always wanted
but the values of unapproved love instilled by Romeo and Juliet. She also did it in a way that
evoked her own personal experiences. Taylor Swift felt she was in the shoes of Juliet in her own
life and her song proves that. Love Story is in first person with the point of view of Juliet. The
most intriguing part of this retelling is it was done as a song subcategorized under pop music.
She gave retold a classic love story that compares to the infinite amount of retellings written. If
Taylor Swift would have changed everything including the setting, time period, language
variations, and also changed the ending from what was detailed in William Shakespeares Romeo
and Juliet would she still have connected to her audience who wanted a change to Romeo and
Juliet?

Work Cited

1. Dolfsma, Wilfred. The Consumption of Music and the Expression of VALUES: A social
Economic Explanation for the advent of Pop Music. The American Journal of Economics
and Sociology, 1999
2. Goodman, Yetta. Retellings of Literature and the Comprehension Process. Theory Into
Practice, 1982
3. Hook, Peggy Howlett, Elizabeth, Aldrich Kevin. Booksearch: Abridgements and
Retellings of Classics. English Journal, 1988
4. Joosen, Vanessa. Disenchanting the Fairy Tale: Retellings of Snow White between
Magic and Realism. Marvels and Tales, 2007
5. Love Story (Taylor Swift song) Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 2008. (Lewis, Randy.
LA Times, 2008) http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/26/entertainment/ca-swift26. (BMI
Country Award Big Winners BMI News, 2009) http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/540105
6. Taylor Swift Lyrics. Love Story Azlyrics.com, 2008