The 2,600-Year-Old History of 'Tortured' Poets – and Sexism

There seems little doubt that Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, was written as a form of catharsis. At a show in Melbourne in February, she described it as a "lifeline". "Just the things I was going through and the things I was writing about – it kind of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through my life," she said. "I never had an album where I needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets." In its review, Rolling Stone argues that it is the most personal of her whole career.