In Taylor Swift’s “august,” the narrator is yearning for James.
The song presents a female narrator looking back on a brief summer romance with James. She hopes the relationship might become permanent, but James is already connected to Betty and ultimately returns to his former lover.
Swift created the story as fiction rather than presenting it as a direct account of her own life. The narrator is sometimes informally called Augustine or Augusta by fans and by Swift in discussion, but the song does not explicitly give her a name.
James and Betty are the named figures in the broader Folklore love triangle. “Cardigan” is told from Betty’s perspective, while “Betty” is told from James’s perspective. “august” completes the triangle from the viewpoint of the summer lover.