The Prophecy
- Daniella Rojas
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
Updated: May 7
"The Prophecy” is one of my favorite songs to listen to and analyze. I think it is a song to which many people can relate subconsciously: the feeling that love has failed them. “The Prophecy” is the 26th song in The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology by Taylor Swift. The song is about how prophets predict your life, but it appears that they overlooked taking into account a love prospect.
The song begins, “Hand on the throttle, thought I caught lightning in a bottle. Oh, but it's gone again." It’s as if you’re trying to catch love but always miss it. You are going at full speed, thinking this might finally be the one, but realizing it is not meant for you. “And it was written, I got cursed like Eve got bitten. Oh, was it punishment?” This line struck me with an interesting approach. It references the Bible, where Eve doesn’t get bitten, but eventually, she bites the forbidden fruit after being tempted at first. Just like Snow White, but in her tale, she eats a poisoned apple with a sleeping curse. This brings me to the “I got cursed part/was it punishment?” line, feeling cursed in love; if you ate the poisoned apple because you were told that one bite would bring love into your life, but instead, it made you unlovable. It feels like a punishment that you are unable to fall in love or find someone to be with.
“Pad around when I get home, I guess a lesser woman would've lost hope.” There’s that feeling of loneliness when you get home, walking around in silence, thinking about how a woman who doesn’t fight for love and has given up on love has lost hope and stopped trying to find love. “A greater woman wouldn't beg, but I looked to the sky and said, “Please, I've been on my knees. Change the prophecy.” Someone who doesn't bother being alone wouldn't beg to be in a relationship, but we have the hopeless romantics who beg on their knees to be with someone. Someone, a woman who has been in previous relationships that didn't end quite well, decided she was better off on her own. “Don't want money, just someone who wants my company, let it once be me.” But the thing about the hopeless romantics is they don’t want anything material; that is the least they care about. They just want someone there for them. To listen, to understand, to hold them when they are about to break, yet many don't get that. “Who do I have to speak to, about if they can redo the prophecy?” The prophecy is the prediction of something, to predict. Similar to tarot cards, some would say, but prophets predict how your life will go. It was destined to happen. Tarot cards, on the other hand, would be what will happen in the near future.
“Cards on the table, mine play out like fools in a fable.” Your timeline isn't meant to include a soulmate. Your ‘cards’ seem to be cursed, as if the thing you desire most will never be in your favor, thinking you are cursed when it comes to love. Some people are destined to find their soulmate in this life, but others never do. It's as if the stars never aligned for that special person to come along. You plead for this to change because you are afraid to grow old and never fall in love, never find your Allie to your Noah. “Oh, it was sinking in (Sinking in, oh). Slow is the quicksand, poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand. Oh, still I dream of him.” The results of your cards are sinking in, as if you were standing on quicksand and not moving because you know how it will end, so what's the point of holding out hope? The wound in your hand, knowing your blood is poison, and you could die, you still let it bleed because you wish to be with him but know it is impossible because it is not meant to be, but you still have a glimmer of hope. You risk everything in the hopes of falling in love. What's the point of accomplishing so much in life if you end up alone? There's no one to share it with. Seeing all of your friends in relationships, married with families, while wondering why you can't have that.
“And I sound like an infant, feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen.” You’re crying, realizing your story is ending. The prophets have finished writing your story, and there is no sight of what you desire most. “A greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf at the moon. And I look unstable, gathered with a coven round a sorceress' table.” being desperate, doing whatever it takes to change what was destined in your life. “A greater woman has faith, but even statues crumble if they're made to wait.” When you wait for too long, you lose hope. Statues break after long periods of time due to not being taken care of and mismanagement. “I'm so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates. I'm just a paperweight, in shades of greige” losing hope, losing color, realizing nothing is changing, and finally giving up on love. Sealing your fate is finally accepting what was meant for you and taking in your destiny. “Spending my last coin so someone will tell me, it'll be ok.” Give your last chance in love, hoping it actually works this time and that your one wish will come true.
Swift's vocalizing between the bridge and the last verse sounds like she's howling 'to the moon'. The outro is similar to the first verse; it’s like a cycle repeating itself, but this time, with the last please, it sounds like an echo. Like if you were sending your last prayer, sending your last hope up to the sky, hoping you might get heard this time.
Swift, Taylor. “The Prophecy.” The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. Republic Records, 2024. Apple Music, https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-prophecy/1742057774?i=1742058281
