Taylor Swift is the best pop-country artist known to mankind, and she is also a huge inspiration to many. Born in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1989, she lived on a Christmas tree farm with her mother, Andrea, her father, Scott and her little brother Austin. She was always a natural performer, walking up to complete strangers as a child and suddenly start singing songs from The Lion King At six years old Taylor discovered LeeAnn Rimes’ album, Blue, and from then on fell in love with country music. She learned how to play guitar at age twelve when a man who played guitar came to fix her parents computer, and from there she continued learning chords and writing her own songs. Taylor’s first single to ever go on sale was downloaded over 500,000 times in less than five months which is huge for any new-coming artist. Later her first album went triple platinum, after hitting number one on the country charts. On this CD was Taylor’s song “Tied Together With A Smile”. She wrote this song with Liz Rose (her co-writer) about a friend of hers who was gorgeous and wanted by just about every guy in the school. Only she couldn’t see her own beauty. In her song “Tied Together With A Smile” Taylor Swift uses various of allegories and similes to convey the struggles of a girl with an eating disorder.
In the song “Tied Together With A Smile” allegories and hyperboles are expressed throughout the lyrics. For example, in the second stanza, second line Taylor sings “the water’s high you’re jumping into it, and letting go and no one knows” which is an allegory. Her friend clearly isn’t jumping into the deep end of a pool and letting go, but this line is trying to express how her friend is plunging herself into danger and not even putting up a fight, yet nobody even knows she’s in trouble. Also, in the second stanza on line five another allegory is expressed when Taylor sings “that you might not be the golden one”. This line is attempting to show how this friend of Taylor’s may not have been the best, most perfect person in the world, but this idea of someone being perfect and “golden” is absurd since no human being will ever be this; we all make mistakes, etc. Obviously Taylor knows that this is impossible which makes this statement allegorical. A hyperbole in this song may also be found in the second stanza, line six, “and you’re tied together with a smile but you’re coming undone.” Since Taylor’s friend wasn’t a puppet she wasn’t literally tied together with a smile, but rather she always had a smile on her face when she was with others in order for her to hold in everything she was hiding and all of her self-confidence problems, etc. She isn’t literally coming undone either; instead she is just starting to fall apart meaning that people are starting to realize that she is struggling with herself image. The allegories and the hyperbole used in the chorus of “Tied Together With A Smile” by Taylor Swift successfully expressed the serious meaning of the song.
In addition to allegories and hyperboles, “Tied Together With A Smile” by Taylor Swift also had similes, and some ambiguous lines; and even some alliteration. An example of one of the similes used was in the third stanza, second line when Taylor sang “guess it’s true that love was all you wanted, cause you’re giving it away like it’s extra change.” This simile is comparing Taylor’s friend’s love to extra change. This simile illustrates how this girl gave out her love like it were extra change; something that people today always are leaving in tip jars or even on the sidewalk without thinking twice about it. Another simile in this song was in the third stanza, fourth line, “But he leaves you out like a penny in the rain, oh cause it’s not his price to pay.” This simile compares the girl who was giving her love out like extra change to a penny in the rain because this guy she likes isn’t interested in her so he leaves her out alone and helpless; much like a penny in the rain. The line “oh cause it’s not his price to pay” is ambiguous in my opinion, and may be interpreted as the girl is too special and unique for this guy. Some lines of alliteration in this song were in the first line of the song when Taylor sings “seems the only one who doesn’t see your beauty is the face in the mirror looking back at you” and again in the last line of the chorus when she sings “tied together with a smile.” If you ask me, these lines of alliteration were used to add to the flow of the song, and to make it catchier. Taylor Swift and Liz Rose packed “Tied Together With A Smile” with many examples of alliteration and similes.
Overall, “Tied Together With A Smile” is a great song with some great poetic devices included. This song opened many peoples’ eyes and made the realize the dangers of eating disorders. This song is really relatable for people with eating disorders as well, and may even encourage them to seek help. Part of Taylor Swift’s success is based upon the fact that she writes songs that everyone on earth can relate too since the majority of her songs are about love and heartbreak; something which everyone will experience at some point. This song especially sets itself apart from her other songs on that album. Taylor Swift and Liz Rose are a great song writing team when it comes to writing songs about peoples’ struggles.
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