“I laughed in your face and said ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith.’”
In a few words, Taylor Swift makes it clear who she thinks holds a membership to the tortured poets department. But, they—just like Swift—are following a long line of Romantics who depicted the realities of their time.
Romanticism, in truth, is not as “romantic” as one might initially think. Writers employed the grotesque—distorted and fantastic descriptions of their realities—to describe the world that experienced Napoleon’s rise and fall, the abolition of the slave trade, and the growth of industrialization.
From the well-known, such as William Wordsworth and John Keats, to the lesser known, like Charlotte Smith and Thomas Hood, these writers and their contemporaries helped craft the “tortured” poet mold.
John Keats is considered one of the greatest poets of the Romantic era alongside William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Photograph by Usher Gallery, Bridgeman Images
Who were the Romantics?
The Romantic movement, which emerged in the late 18th century and persisted throughout the 19th century, is the foundational backdrop for the tortured poet archetype. In his early 19th-century essay, Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth wrote, “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”
Romantic writers often rebelled against the rationalism and order of the Enlightenment period that preceded it, opting to exaggerate and contradict reality instead. They celebrated spontaneity, intuition, and the sublime, and their works often explored themes of love, nature, the supernatural, and the human experience.
(This single working mom was Europe’s first professional woman writer.)
Other luminaries, such as African American poet Phillis Wheatley, used her poetry to resonate with themes of freedom and spirituality amid the stark realities of slavery in the late 18th century. Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano embedded poetic passages within his autobiographical narratives, shedding light on the plight of enslaved individuals and fervently advocating for their emancipation.
Their voices, along with Juan Francisco Manzano, a Cuban poet whose words called for liberation amidst colonial oppression, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican nun whose poetic exploration of love and intellect defied societal norms, expanded the horizons of the Romantic movement.
Christina Rossetti, one of the foremost poets of the Victorian era, often drew inspiration from her own faith and personal experiences to explore love, death, and spirituality.
Photograph by Christie’s Images, Bridgeman Images
On the other hand, the Dark Romanticism subgenre, prevalent in German and American Romanticism, employed gloomy, tragic language to explore the relationship between the divine and humanity. The shift to darkness (or at least a more explicit representation of it) in Romanticism was a response to the growth of Transcendentalism and its focus on the goodness, unity, and superiority of man. It’s best seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark,” which criticizes the pursuit of perfection.
At the same time, German writers developed a genre of writing called Schwarze Romantik, a Gothic take on the Middle Ages complete with monsters and ghosts, which can be seen in “Tamerlane,” a work by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that delves into ambition and mortality in a medieval setting.
A new generation of tortured poets
As the 19th century progressed, writers continued to grapple with existential and societal concerns, delving into themes of death, imperialism, and advancing technology. Figures like Christina Rossetti and Rudyard Kipling reflected Victorian anxieties through works such as “One Sea-Side Grave” and “The Female of the Species,” using sensory language to evoke profound emotion.
(These Japanese cities may inspire your next haiku.)
The 20th century ushered in a new era of poetic expression, marked by profound shifts in global politics and culture. Poets of the “Lost Generation,” including Gertrude Stein and T.S. Eliot, critiqued the excesses of capitalism and the devastation wrought by World War I with unconventional and fragmented verse, while Dylan Thomas’ 1947 poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” served as a poignant plea for resilience in the face of mortality.
Patti Smith poses backstage before performing at the event “Arista Records Salutes New York with a Festival of Great Music” on September 21, 1975. Smith initially gained recognition for her poetry and performance art before transitioning to music.
Photograph by Charlie Steiner-Highway 67, Getty Images
Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer known for exploring themes of love, death, and the natural world.
Photograph by Hulton-Deutsch Collection, Corbis, Getty Images
As a new generation of tortured poets emerge amidst the tumultuous currents of the 21st century, they carry the legacy of their predecessors while forging their path forward. Protest movements of the 1960s, including the Vietnam War and Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation movements, further catalyzed poetry’s evolution, with artists blurring the lines between poetry and music as a form of protest.
Swift nods to this aspect by mentioning Patti Smith, a poet-turned-singer who helped pioneer the punk scene during the 1970s. Smith’s influence underscores the ongoing relevance of the tortured poets tradition, demonstrating its ability to inspire and influence across diverse artistic mediums and generations.
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