Taylor Swift is related to famed poet Emily Dickinson and now it all makes sense

By Lisa Respers France | CNN

Turns out Taylor Swift was spot on naming her forthcoming album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

The company Ancestry, which helps people trace their genealogy, has found evidence that Swift is distantly related to the famed poet Emily Dickinson.

“We need to calm down…but how can we when we have BIG news!?” a post on the Ancestry Instagram account reads. “Renowned American poets Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson are 6th cousins, three times removed.”

CNN has reached out to Swift’s representative for comment. The news was first announced on NBC’s “Today.”

Dickinson, who lived from 1830 to 1886, is known for her poems such as “Because I could not stop for Death” and “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers.”

The writer, who should have been a celebrity in her own time, even wrote about fame like her distant cousin. “Success is counted sweetest/By those who ne’er succeed/ To comprehend a nectar/ Requires sorest need,” Dickinson wrote in her poem, “Success is counted sweetest.”

“Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut),” according to Ancestry.

Swifties have long made the connection between the two women.

Her album “Evermore” was announced in 2020 on December 10, which happens to be Dickinson’s birthday. The title is believed by some to have been inspired by Dickinson’s poem “One Sister Have I in Our House,” which includes the word “forvermore.”