Emily Dickinson and Taylor Swift are distant cousins. On Monday, Ancestry.com revealed that "The Tortured Poets Department" vocalist and Dickinson are sixth cousins, three times removed. Family trees show "removed" cousins as one generation higher or lower. Three times removed signifies three generations past.
"The remarkable connection between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson is just one example of the incredible things you can discover when you explore your past," Ancestry director of research Jennifer Utley said Monday. "We may not realize it, but our pasts shape our present.
The for-profit American genealogy organization found that Swift and Dickinson are descendants of Jonathan Gillette, a 17th-century Windsor, Connecticut immigrant and early settler (Swift's ninth and Dickinson's sixth great-grandfather) using its massive records.
"It's really exciting," says writing professor Catherine Fairfield, a gender studies and literary expert at Northeastern University.
"Swifties have been really interested in the overlaps between Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson, especially since the release of 'Evermore.'"
On Emily Dickson's birthday, Dec. 10, 2020, Swift announced the midnight release of her ninth studio album "Evermore". The "tortured poet" says, "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.
"They've proven their timelessness," Fairfield says. Taylor Swift's writing talent has garnered attention from universities. Emily Dickinson defines English poetry and literature. Both will likely study for a long period.
Swift's eleventh era, "The Tortured Poets Department," releases on April 19, making the time ideal. Fairfield says poetry wins: "2024 is a turn to poetry and I love it."
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