A Millennium of Musical Storytelling: From Tang Dynasty Poetic-Melodic Traditions to Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_42How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Tang Dynasty music; Bob Dylan; Taylor Swift; musical storytelling; narrative analysis; comparative musicology; cross-cultural comparison; poetic-melodic tradition; cultural context; identity in music; emotional catharsis; memory preservation

Abstract

This study undertakes a qualitative, cross-cultural comparative analysis of narrative in music, focusing on two distinct traditions: the poetic-melodic forms of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) and the contemporary singer-songwriter works of Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift. The research integrates narrative analysis and comparative musicology to examine how storytelling is constructed and conveyed through lyrics, melody, and performance, as well as how these narratives respond to and shape audience expectations. Data sources included reconstructed Tang-era scores and poetry, along with selected Dylan and Swift songs recognised for their narrative depth. Analyses were conducted in three stages textual/lyric, musical, and contextual culminating in a synthesis that identified both convergences and divergences.

Findings reveal that, despite stark differences in historical context, medium, and performance practice, all three repertoires share core narrative functions: preserving memory, negotiating identity, and providing emotional catharsis. Tang music-poetry often employed episodic structures, symbolic imagery, and environmental metaphors, embedding social commentary in allegory. Dylan’s songwriting combined linear and elliptical structures with direct political protest, while Swift’s narratives blended linear plots with self-referential motifs and cinematic framing, reflecting participatory fan culture. Musical analysis demonstrated that modal stability in Tang works, repetitive chord cycles in Dylan’s ballads, and tonal modulations in Swift’s songs each reinforced narrative arcs in culturally specific ways.

The study concludes that while musical storytelling adapts to prevailing cultural, technological, and institutional contexts, its core functions endure across time and culture. These findings contribute to the understanding of narrative universals in music and open pathways for broader cross-cultural and diachronic research in musical narrative.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ziyi Cai
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/11
TI  - A Millennium of Musical Storytelling: From Tang Dynasty Poetic-Melodic Traditions to Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 10th International Conference on Modern Management, Education and Social Sciences (MMET 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 355
EP  - 365
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_42
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_42
ID  - Cai2025
ER  -