Sylvia Plath, Taylor Swift, & the Power of the Witch Imagery

What connects Sylvia Plath, Taylor Swift, and the witch? Historically, the witch has been a misogynistic label often for women who challenged social expectations and gender norms. However, over time, the witch has become a symbol of resistance against patriarchy, female power, and rebellion. 

Especially for American poet, Sylvia Plath, and the singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift, witches are complex yet powerful symbols. Through poems, lyrics and stage performances, both women draw on the history of witch trials, ritual, and rebirth to reimagine the witch as a complex and powerful figure. From burning witches to ritualistic elements, join us to examine how Plath and Swift use the witch to navigate private and public struggles as well as wider questions surrounding gender, identity, and power.

Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm - come down early to grab a good seat!

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Speaker Bio:

Dr Dorka Tamás is a researcher and teacher based at Royal Holloway, University of London. She earned her PhD in English literature from the University of Exeter (2022) and her Master’s degree from the University of Sussex (2018). Dorka is specialised in twentieth-century women’s poetry, particularly Sylvia Plath, the legacies of early modern witch-hunt in literature, and post-1945 American culture. She has spoken at the Sylvia Plath Literary Festival at Hebden Bridge (2022), at numerous academic conferences, and at the Romancing the Gothic lecture series. She is the author of Sylvia Plath and the Supernatural, published by Cambridge University Press (2026) and the editor of The New Sylvia Plath Studies, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

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