Evermore’s five stages of grief

Exploring the emotional depths of Taylor Swift’s Evermore

By Erin Malinn Feature Editor

Evermore means everlasting; forever and always. It can withstand the world and all of its weapons, though nothing can ever be such a thing. Everything is a victim of time’s passage, which makes the process of letting go and moving on seem that much more abrupt. A poet once named this victim “Dorothea.”

Every person has their “other half,” another being they cannot fathom living without. Physically, they are capable, but how desirable is a life without light? How is one able to breathe without lungs? Dorothea is what lives on without us, what found a life on its own and made it better. It seems impossible that one half of your heart can grow bigger and beat faster after needing you to beat at all. No matter, there will always be a vacant spot waiting on their return, never changing until everything returns to the way it was. But they never look back. You have grown small and weak while this, now unrecognizable, old piece of you towers over your small stature, looking down in disgust. What you once thought was timeless has grown old in front of you. Being replaced so easily is a slap to the face, but recognizing how similar their new world is to the one you were once part of is a punch to the gut. Since you could not find the words in time to beg them to stay, there was nothing to do but watch them go. Time is your worst enemy. Everything is a reminder of what you lost, with every reminder leaving you frozen in the moment you were left alone. Happy memories are reminiscent, while the rest are tragically consuming–so much so that nothing seems real. It is easier to go on believing that this is all in your head, that nothing has changed. But ac cepting this delusion means accepting your beliefs as wrong. Living in this delu sion means that you were in the wrong, that you were taking up too much space and time, that they were right to assume you were fine. It seems so easy to break free, but how can you when you cannot remove the dagger they left in you? It becomes hard to remain in this fit of anger when everything appears to be resolving itself. The world feels as though it is preparing to move backwards, revert to its past, when things were better. All you can do is hope that, no matter how wise or old this former part of you gets, they can and will forgive your soul and embrace you by their side once again. And it really does seem to be coming true. When nothing changes, you find yourself lost, unable to remember a version of yourself that seamlessly fits into the world. Without this piece of moment where everything is broken. How tragic it is to grieve what was never dead. Living without the comfort of a second home provides the same chilling sensation as a day without the sun. The only form of comfort you can seek comes from the warmth of your own bed, which has become the most heartbreaking thing to leave. While the changes of the surrounding world have been your main focus, it has gone unnoticed the reinvention of yourself. You learn to pick your battles. The battle of time chose you. Change, however, is not worthy of a fight. Sometimes, walking out is the only option. Running away is not always the cow