English Teacher Explains Taylor’s “willow” Meaning, Line by Line
Taylor Swift’s mystical, magical willow narrates the thrill of the chase for the object of her desire.
The protagonist plays the game of love like chess, harnessing all her powers to claim her lover forever.
Is this song about Taylor’s real life, or is it an imagined narrative? What does the central metaphor of the willow mean, and how does it connect to a famous Shakespearean tragedy and folklore?
Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of Taylor’s willow meaning, line by line.
willow by Taylor Swift
- Title: willow
- Written by: Aaron Dessner, Taylor Swift
- Track: 1, evermore
- Pen: Quill
- Lyrics from Genius
willow Narrative Summary
- Setting: The chase.
- Characters: Narrator (Taylor, or another protagonist), subject (“my man”, “you”)
- Mood: Sly, witchy, mystical.
- Conflict: She wants him, but they’re playing games.
- Inciting Incident: the “ship rolled in that night”: they meet and begin the pursuit.
- Quest: “That’s my man”: claim him, have him.
- Symbols & Metaphors: “willow,” water/ship, “rough on the surface,” “cut through,” “open-shut case”, “look on your face,” “current” vs currant, saying vs. meaning, “stray,” “take my hand,” “wreck my plans,” “bent right to your wind,” “sneakin’ in”, “Mythical thing,” “trophy or a champion ring,” “prize”, “cheat to win”, “my train”, “hollow,” “count me out,” “90s trend”, “scars,” “bait-and-switch”.
- Imagery: “I’m like the water when your ship rolled in that night / Rough on the surface, but you cut through like a knife”, “Lost in your current like a priceless wine,” “Wherever you stray, I follow / I’m begging for you to take my hand,” “Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind / Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneakin’ in,” “You know that my train could take you home / Anywhere else is hollow,” “I come back stronger than a ’90s trend”, “Wait for the signal, and I’’ll meet you after dark / Show me the places where the others gave you scars.”
- Lesson: It’s one battle to win a prize, and it’s another to keep it.
What is willow About?
willow is about desire: wanting someone or something that might not be good for you, but you can’t help but chase it anyway.
Taylor explained that she came up with the lyrics after hearing Aaron Dessner’s instrumentals.
“…[the melody] felt strangely witchy, it felt like somebody standing over a potion making a love potion, dreaming up the person that they want and the person they desire, and trying to figure out how to get that person on their life, and all the kind of misdirection, baint-and-switch and complexity that goes into seeing someone, feeling a connection, wanting them, and trying to make them a part of your life.”
–Taylor Swift, Apple Music Interview
Who is willow About?
Taylor has never revealed if willow was inspired by a real person in her life.
Like many of the narratives in folklore and evermore, it could be entirely fiction, or it could be partially or fully based on her own experiences.
Taylor’s “willow” Metaphor
The willow tree is important in folklore, literature, and nature.
In nature, it represents strength and resilience. One branch can sprout an entirely new tree. But they’re also associated with sadness, especially the “weeping willow” variety.
In folklore and mythology, the tree is associated with the moon (due to its proximity to the water), healing, growth, and witchcraft.
In Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedy Hamlet, the willow tree is where Ophelia dies. She is driven “mad” (like Taylor’s mad woman) when her lover kills her father. Misogyny, violence and gaslighting from all the men in her life have slowly driven her insane.
I think the most likely interpretation of Taylor’s “willow” tree – if she drew inspiration from any external sources – is this portion of Hamlet.
If “life was a willow,” it’s the place where Taylor slowly “dies,” like Ophelia. But “it bent right to your wind” means she changes direction when meeting her “man,” and finds strength and resilience in her new companion.
Instead of the willow branch breaking and Taylor falling in the metaphoric river to her “death,” the branch flexes and leads her away from her slow demise.
This could allude to a dark time in her life (“I was like the water…rough on the surface”) when she meets this new person.
Another reference that’s alluded to – but not directly referenced – is the “will-o’-the-wisp.” In folklore, the will-o’-the-wisp is a ghost light that leads travelers astray. It’s a common metaphor in literature for a goal or aspiration that can’t be attained.
The love interest of the song is Taylor’s will-o’-the-wisp, and she also alludes to this metaphor in the song’s visuals on the Eras Tour.
willow Lyrics Meaning, Line by Line
The opening verse sets the scene for what her life was like before he arrived: “I’m like the water when your ship rolled in that night,” she says, “Rough on the surface, but you cut through like a knife.”
On the surface, she wasn’t a “placid sea” – she was turbulent waves. But he was able to “cut through like a knife,” meaning he was able to see beneath the turmoil and discover her true self.
In Hamlet, the titular character is sent away on a ship, then returns home. But it’s too late for Ophelia – she has gone mad and died.
“When your ship rolled in that night” could be an allusion to Hamlet returning home, and “rough on the surface” could allude to Ophelia’s “madness.”
“And if it was an open-shut case,” she says, “I never would’ve known from that look on your face.” He’s hiding something behind his smile. It’s not obvious whether he actually wants her or not.
Hamlet feigns madness in order to avenge his father, which messes with Ophelia’s head and drives her crazy. Hamlet’s intentions are a similar mystery to Taylor’s lover’s intentions. Her lover is her will-o’-the-wisp: unattainable, and constantly chased.
Like Ophelia, she’s “Lost in your current like a priceless wine.” This is a homonym which refers to both the ship (“current”), and the currant flavor of an expensive wine. His moods or actions are unpredictable and powerful, and sweep Taylor away.
The chorus continues this theme of unpredictability with, “The more that you say, the less I know.” He’s confusing, or says one thing and does another.
“Wherever you stray, I follow” hints at cheating, but it could also mean he wanders off and she follows him, like an illusive will-o’-the-wisp.
“I’m begging for you to take my hand” means she wants to be with him, or take her hand to lead her to wherever he “strays.”
“Wreck my plans”, she says, “that’s my man.” She wants to be demolished like a shipwreck. She doesn’t care that he’s bad for her, she just wants him to be hers.
Verse 2: “Life Was a Willow and it Bent Right to Your Wind”
“Life was a willow,” she begins in the second verse, “and it bent right to your wind.”
This means that if life – the world at large – is a tree in the breeze, it’s tossed about by his powerful whims. His “wind” is the same as his “current”: he is so large and in charge that he can bend anything to his will.
In Hamlet, the willow is where Ophelia dies, and Hamlet’s baffling behavior has driven her around the bend. In this context, if “life was a willow,” the willow represents losing her life or slowly dying.
But he changes her direction with his wind, and sweeps her away from that dark place of depression.
Taylor has her “head on the pillow”, meaning she was asleep, and didn’t see him coming. “I could feel you sneakin’ in” means he crept up on her. She wasn’t expecting this magnetic person to get to her, but he has.
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He’s mysterious and almost magical: “as if you were a mythical thing.” A “mythical thing” is something that’s so unbelievable that it must only exist in your imagination or in folklore (like the will-o-the-wisp).
It’s “like you were a trophy or a champion ring,” she says. He’s an award that she wants to grab.
“And there was one prize I’d cheat to win,” she says. She’ll do anything to get him.
The first part of the chorus repeats, then she says: “you know that my train could take you home.” Her “train” is her lifeforce – maybe her stardom or power – and it can take him home with her.
“Anywhere else is hollow” means that “home” is the only place that’s real. This could mean that if she doesn’t claim him (take him home) life will be meaningless.
She wants to lead him away to the place where they can be together, begging “take my hand.”
“Wreck my plans,” she asks again: she wants him to ruin her. She wants him so badly that she doesn’t care about the consequences.
“That’s my man,” she repeats, which is almost like saying “good boy.”
Bridge: “I Come Back Stronger Than a 90s Trend”
The bridge uses the willow metaphor again, but this time it could apply to Taylor instead of her lover.
“They count me out time and time again,” she says, meaning that she’s been out of contention for the “prize”. No one thinks she can “win” it.
But her life is the willow in the bridge, and it bends to her will. She is in charge of her own destiny, and “I come back stronger than a 90s trend” means that she will reemerge stronger than before.
She might bend and break, but she’ll regrow and resprout like the willow over and over again. This could allude to any of Taylor’s professional or personal trials, where each time she’s emerged more popular and powerful than ever.
But it also refers to getting her “prize”: her “man”. She may have hit some roadblocks on the road to winning him, but she’ll get there in the end.
Verse 3: “Every Bait-and-Switch Was a Work of Art”
In the third verse, Taylor finally gets her man.
“Wait for the signal, and I’ll meet you after dark,” she says, luring him to a private, secret meetup.
Once they’re alone, he can “show me the places where the others gave you scars.” They’ll compare battle wounds – past heartbreaks – and get to know each other on a deeper level.
“Now this is an open-shut case,” she says. It’s solved, it’s over: he is hers. “I guess I should’ve known from the look on your face,” she muses. This time, his face betrays him: he’s fallen for her.
“Every bait-and-switch was a work of art,” she says of her own cunning plans. She played the game of love, chased him, and caught him. It was a masterwork of trickery. She told us she would “cheat to win,” and she has.
Outro: “Wreck My Plans, That’s My Man”
The chorus repeats, then the outro is her victory parade: “Hey, that’s my man”, she brags. But it could also be construed as telling others to back off.
Is she jealous? Has she really “won” the game, or is she still defending her title?
She may have won, but she’s still “begging for you to take my hand.” If he is hers, then why is she still begging to be taken along on the ride?
“Wreck my plans,” she asks again, and this time “that’s my man” feels tenuous. Is he really hers? Or will she keep having to bait-and-switch to keep him?
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willow Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
Like Hamlet’s Ophelia, Taylor has ended up still stuck in madness. She has to keep chasing him like the illusive will-o’-the-wisp. Is her “man” really hers? Or will he run, and leave Taylor/Ophelia with ‘wrecked plans’?
He may have swept her away from drowning in the lake, but danger is ever-present. Ophelia ends up surrendering to the game, but Taylor doesn’t. She’s still stuck in limbo.
If life is a willow, the breeze can change direction at any time. And if you’re not holding on tight, you can get caught up in the current.
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