The Basics:
Taylor Swift addresses someone who recently made a mistake. Swift commiserates with them, reminiscing about how everything was easier during childhood. Swift reminds them that “who you are is not what you did” and proclaims “you’re still an innocent.”
Literary Device: Ambiguity
Taylor Swift never describes the actual mistake that her addressee made. Instead, she uses a couple of techniques to obfuscate the deed. First, she relies heavily upon metaphorical language. “Lost yourself on your warpath” and “Lost your balance on a tightrope” both give a sense of a misdeed that harmed oneself without ever stating what happened. Second, Swift describes the event using the vaguest language possible, including: “I guess you really did it this time,” “who you are is not what you did” and, most masterfully, “did some things you can’t speak of.” Whatever “it” was, Taylor Swift does not want “it” to be the focus of the song. Swift leaves the incident itself to the listener’s imagination so that she can focus on the subsequent repercussions and healing.
Analysis:
Innocent continues to explore the same themes as Never Grow Up. In Never Grow Up, Swift warned a child about the perils of adulthood. In Innocent, Swift reminds a grieving adult that their life was so much better when they were a child. Swift moans: “Wasn’t it easier in your lunchbox days” in the first verse and “in your firefly-catching’ days” in the second. She asks “Wasn’t it beautiful when you believed in everything?” and “Wasn’t it beautiful runnin’ wild ‘til you fell asleep?” In addition to portraying a stage of life that was simpler and lovelier, both verses provide an example of something that has an innocent interpretation during childhood and a darker one in adulthood. “Always a bigger bed to crawl into” is reminiscent of a time when crawling into bed with someone else was seeking comfort and protection rather than a sexual act. Similarly, the “monsters” chasing the child in the second verse are whimsical and an excuse to run around. By adulthood, they have become real and “caught up to you.”
Like in Never Grow Up, time in Innocent is a double-edged sword. Although growing up is terrible, it also provides healing and growth. For example, as a child, “everything [was] out of reach and required “someone bigger [to bring it] down to you.” In addition to this example of very literal growth: “You wouldn’t be shattered on the floor now / If only you had seen what you know now then.” The passage of time has provided Swift’s addressee with additional physical capabilities as well as the knowledge required to make better decisions. Swift assures them that this growth will only continue. “It’s all right, just wait and see,” “You’ll have new Septembers” and “32 and still growing up now” all reassure the listener that the growth trajectory will continue.
Swift ends the song by saying: “Lost your balance on a tightrope / It’s never too late to get it back.” This is a complex metaphor that rewards further exploration. Restoring one’s balance after a tightrope mishap is not instantaneous. The acrobat must recover from the injury – including both stabilizing the immediate emergency and recovering from any longer-term damage. This will require practice and potentially rehabilitation before getting back on the tightrope. In this metaphor, the passage of time as well as active effort as required in order to get back to where the addressee started. It is also important to note that it might, in fact, be “too late to get it back” if the acrobat died. The tightrope tragedy will be more or less severe depending on a variety of factors including the height of the rope and the presence or absence of a safety net. Swift’s final metaphor thus both reinforces and problematizes her assertion that everything will be fine with the passage of time. The passage of time is necessary, but not sufficient, to recover from a mistake. For redemption, the mistake must have been within some normal realm of severity and the actor needs to be an active agent in their own recovery.
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