Taylor Swift is related to Emily Dickinson, genealogy company reveals
Pop star Taylor Swift’s love of words appears to be in her DNA, as she’s reportedly related to the 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson.
Genealogy company Ancestry told TODAY that Swift and Dickinson are sixth cousins thrice removed. They descend from a 17th-century English immigrant, i.e., Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor in Connecticut.
Ancestry said Swift’s ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until her part of the family eventually settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, marrying into the Swift family line.
Curiously, Swift has referenced Dickinson in 2022 when she received the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
“If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre,” she’s quoted as saying.
Fans have speculated that Swift’s studio album evermore was inspired by Dickinson, TODAY reported.
She announced evermore’s release on Dec. 10, 2020, which is Dickinson’s birthday.
A few days before its release, Swift told Entertainment Weekly that the album cover was inspired by “this girl sleepwalking through the forest in a nightgown in 1830,” which happens to be the birth year of Dickinson.
Moreover, Swift’s upcoming album is titled The Tortured Poets Department.