Ancestry reveals Taylor Swift's connection to poet Emily Dickinson

Recent findings from Ancestry have unveiled an unexpected familial link between global pop sensation Taylor Swift and esteemed 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson. According to the American genealogy company, both Swift and Dickinson are sixth cousins thrice removed, tracing their ancestry back to a 17th-century English immigrant who settled in Windsor, Connecticut.

"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)," Ancestry told TODAY.

Swift, 34, hails from West Reading, Pennsylvania, where she was born to Andrea and Scott Swift in 1989. Her family's lineage remained rooted in Connecticut for six generations before eventually migrating to northwestern Pennsylvania, where they intermarried with the Swift family line.

Meanwhile, Dickinson, who is often regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry, was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she passed away at the age of 55 in 1886. Despite her prolific output of thousands of poems, only 10 were published during her lifetime. A majority of her work was published posthumously after her younger sister Lavinia found her collection of nearly 1,800 poems.

Swift, a 14-time Grammy winner, whose forthcoming album is coincidentally titled "The Tortured Poets Department", has previously name-dropped Dickinson when talking about her song lyrics.

In a nod to the poet's influence, Swift referenced Dickinson during her acceptance speech for the 2022 Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award, remarking on her own lyrical style as reminiscent of "writing in the Quill genre."

"If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson's great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that's me writing in the Quill genre," the "Cruel Summer" singer said.