Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Before The Life of a Showgirl was ever a glimmer in Taylor Swift's eye, the singer peppered her music with references to classic literature. As early as 2006, Swift included a nod to Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" in the song "The Outside" from her self-titled debut album. "I tried to take the road less traveled by," she sang. "But nothing seems to work the first few times, am I right?" The lines were the first of many literary references to come, with Swift later folding in allusions to works by authors including Charles Dickens and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Perhaps most famously, her Fearless single "Love Story" borrows from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. In 2010, Swift said that studying the play in ninth grade partially inspired the track. "A lot of people who gravitate toward music are really, really sort of drawn to poetry because the words all have a rhythm and it comes together just right," she said during a talk at Scholastic headquarters. "I love poetry, because if you get it right, if you put the right rhymes at the right ends of the sentences, you can almost make words bounce off a page." Keep reading for a complete, alphabetical guide to all of the literary references in Swift's discography: Marcelo Endelli/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' Swift's first tribute to Lewis Carroll's beloved children's book came in 2014 on 1989 via the bonus track "Wonderland." In the song, the narrator and her lover fall "down a rabbit hole" and get lost in a "wonderland" together. "Didn't you calm my fears with a Cheshire Cat smile?" she sings at one point. Swift revisited Carroll's work on "Long Story Short" from 2020's Evermore with the line, "I fell from the pedestal, right down the rabbit hole." 'All's Well That Ends Well' Shakespeare's comedy gets a quick nod in "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version), which dropped in 2021. Swift begins the fourth verse with the lines, "They say all's well that ends well, but I'm in a new hell / Every time you double-cross my mind." She previously referenced the play on "Lover" from the 2019 album of the same name, singing, "All's well that ends well to end up with you." 'American Pie' To millennials of a certain age, American Pie is literature - don't @ Us. Swift references the sex comedy on TTPD's "So High School," which is almost certainly about her romance with Travis Kelce. All the Famous Names Taylor Swift Drops on 'The Tortured Poets Department' Aristotle "So High School" also includes a nod to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who is considered by many to be the first scientist. "You know how to ball, I know Aristotle," Swift sings, seemingly referencing memes that compare Kelce and Swift's intelligences. The Bible "Now That We Don't Talk" from 1989 (Taylor's Version), released in 2023, includes an allusion to a Bible story from the book of Exodus. "You part the crowd like the Red Sea, don't even get me started," Swift sings, referencing Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Swift drew on her Sunday school knowledge again on "Guilty as Sin?" from TTPD, referencing Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection with the lines, "What if I roll the stone away? / They're gonna crucify me anyway / What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy?" TTPD's "The Prophecy" also includes a nod to the Genesis story of Adam and Eve in the first verse with the line, "I got cursed like Eve got bitten." (John Milton stans, this is apparently as close as we're getting to a Paradise Lost reference.) Cassandra Swift makes one of her many references to Greek mythology on TTPD's "Cassandra," which features the chorus, "So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst / And tried to tell the town / So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say / Do you believe me now?" Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. She had the gift of prophecy, but the god Apollo cursed her so that her predictions would not be believed. 'Compassion' In the song "Ivy" from 2020's Evermore, Swift borrows a line from Miller Williams' poem "Compassion," published in 1997. "I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bones," she sings in the first verse. Williams' poem, meanwhile, reads, "You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone." TAS2023 via Getty Images 'The Divine Comedy' On The Life of a Showgirl's first track, "The Fate of Ophelia," Swift gives what could be a brief nod to Dante's masterpiece, singing, "And if you'd never come for me / I might've lingered in purgatory." Dylan Thomas Swift name-drops the Welsh poet in TTPD's title track, singing, "I laughed in your face and said, 'You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith.'" 'The Godfather' Swift sings the Mafia-coded line, "You'll be sleeping with the fishes before you know you're drownin'" on The Life of a Showgirl's "Father Figure," seemingly nodding to Mario Puzo's