Allusion, Thematic echo
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra surfaces across two Taylor Swift songs, through allusion and thematic echo.
Appears in 2 songs
Associated with William Shakespeare
The Albatross
The Tortured Poets Department · 2024
“Shooting the messengers”
Angela & Uncle Jerry note that the 'shooting the messenger' motif also appears in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, when Cleopatra receives the news that Antony has gone off. Uncle Jerry identifies this as another possible echo in the first verse.
IncidentalAllusionThematic echoInferred
Podcast analysis
The Great War
Midnights · 2022
“I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone”
Uncle Jerry names Cleopatra alongside Romeo and Juliet as the allusive background for Taylor's poison-drinking image. Cleopatra's death by poison (asp) is another iconic literary suicide that the line echoes.
IncidentalAllusionInferred
Podcast analysis