#but its a poetic little moment that holds a lot of literary history and Romance!

[please-picturemeintheweeds]

So Dear Reader immediately calls to mind Jane Eyre, who in the last chapter of the book says, “Reader, I married him.” This is such a famous line, I took a whole class on just this book in college. Brontë only directly addresses the reader like that a handful of times in the book- similar to how Taylor very rarely addresses her audience. This is such a cheeky way to book end Midnights - Lavender Haze kicking off the album by rejecting speculation about the relationship, and then ending it with a notoriously feminist line where Jane chooses to marry the man she loves, and does so privately. I love that Taylor invokes Charlotte Brontë (who wrote Jane Eyre under a masculine pseudonym, Currer Bell). It places her right where she belongs, in a long line of emotional women creating profound art about love and anguish.

There’s also a supremely sassy line right afterwards, where Jane explains that she’s telling Mary and John, the housekeepers, that she’s been married because they’re the sort of people “whom one may at any time safely communicate a remarkable piece of news without incurring the danger of having one’s ears pierced by some shrill ejaculation, and subsequently stunned by a torrent of wordy wonderment.” Which reminds me of “outside they’re pushing and shoving, you’re in the kitchen humming,” among other lyrics about drowning out the noise of people trying to claw their way into this amazing relationship. In contrast, Mary responds so simply. It’s just a part of life, and she’s happy for them, but she’s not freaking out about it. They’re both silent for a few minutes, and then return to cooking. It has the same intimacy as “silence that only comes when two people understand each other” and “you don’t ever say too much.”

The reference is not very subtle, but it is the kind of literary allusion that we know Taylor likes to make in her work, and it gives such a sweet, snide, and proud flavor to midnights. Like one last little secret confession buried in a gothic romance literature reference in the very last track, when you get there at 4am, delirious. She puts the pressure on the audience: “you. You are a part of this.” and then if you follow the reference, she proceeds to absolutely ROAST everyone commenting on her relationship. Art!!