Wouldn’t you know it, Taylor Swift is related to a famous American poet … none other than the late, great Emily Dickinson.
Taylor and Emily are sixth cousins, three times removed … and they both descend from the same 17th-century English immigrant who settled in Connecticut … genealogy company Ancestry told Today.
The common ancestor is Taylor’s 9th great-grandfather and Emily’s 6th great-grandfather … with Taylor’s side of the family living in Connecticut for 6 generations before moving to northwestern Pennsylvania and marrying into the Swift family tree.
While Taylor’s the biggest star in the world, Emily was obviously quite talented too … Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems before her death in 1886 and she’s widely regarded as one of the most important women in American literature.
Unclear if Taylor knows about the familial connection — but it sounds like she may … as she referenced Emily in 2022 when she won the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor said … “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.”
Swifties have also theorized Taylor’s 2020 album, “Evermore,” drew inspiration from Dickenson … because there were plenty of Easter eggs.
Taylor announced the surprise album on Emily’s birthday, and a few days before the album release she said the idea behind her “Folklore” album cover was a “girl sleepwalking through the forest in a nightgown in 1830” … the year Emily was born.
Timing is everything here … Taylor’s upcoming album is “The Tortured Poets Department.”
