Sun
The sun as a recurring image in Taylor's writing of unavoidable, self-destructive exposure: a light source the speaker chooses to look directly at, knowing it will damage her. Distinct from Daylight (warm golden sustaining light, signal of recovered love), the sun in this register is the burning or blinding source the speaker stares into rather than warms in. The image holds the doubled charge of fixation and consequence: looking at the sun is the act of refusing to look away from what will hurt you.
The sun carries the charge of willing self-destruction and unflinching exposure - the speaker's refusal to spare herself from what damages her. Where Daylight registers the catalogue's sustaining-light register, Sun registers the burning, consuming, look-and-be-blinded counterpart.
Appears in 3 songs
“I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror”
The sun stands in for the speaker's chosen self-destructive exposure, looking directly at what damages her rather than at the self-confrontation a mirror would demand.
“Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings”
“Your back beneath the sun”
The sun represents the heat and openness of summer, the exposed body as site of intimacy and the temporary warmth of the season.