The Swiftie and The Scholar

In this episode, we are taking a trip through the wildest winter with evermore from 2020. Uncle Jerry once again blows Angela’s mind with some folklore tropes relating to the dog days, and with some tidbits about Carl Jung’s theory on the Anima.If you’d like to see us listen to the song and enjoy the episode ad-free, you can now join us on Patreon!Works Cited:Cats (2019)Fats WallerApostrophe literary deviceGerard Manley HopkinsWilliam Somerset MaughamThe Burning of Lord Byron’s MemoirsEmily Dickinson – burned lettersJane Austen – burned lettersCharles Dickens BonfireThe Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell – Aff LinkCarl JungThe AnimaThe Raven – Edgar Allan PoeSonnet 29 – William ShakespeareEvermore lyric videoEvermore x Peter MashupFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

JOIN US ON PATREON!In this episode, we are learning all about Cassandra from Greek Mythology, and Cassandra, the Taylor Swift song. Uncle Jerry teaches us Cassandra’s story, we dive into all the rich metaphors, and Angela spills the beans about Taylor’s Kim and Kanye feud. There’s also an existential moment where Angela can’t deal with the question of one universal truth versus many personal truths.Works Cited:Taylor Swift and Kanye West FeudCassandra in Greek MythologyThe Iliad – HomerThe Odyssey – HomerThe Aeneid – VirgilOresteia – AeschylusThe Greek Myths Box Edition – Robert Graves – Aff LinkThe Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition – Robert Graves – Aff LinkMetamorphoses – OvidHeart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad – Aff LinkSight Rhyme (or Eye Rhyme)Seneca's AgamemnonCassandra Lyric VideoConcrete PoetryThe Cassandra ComplexThe Apollo ArchetypeFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry Instagram

Affairs and graves and Emily Dickinson, oh my! Today, we are slowly meandering through Taylor Swift’s 202 poem, ivy. This track from evermore is full of ambiguous symbols, double meanings, and beautiful poetic elements. Uncle Jerry walks us through his many interpretations, and Angela’s brain short circuits through it all.Compassion – Miller WilliamsThe Ways We Touch – Miller Williams – Aff linkDown Where The Spirit Meets the Bone – Lucinda WilliamsBecause I could not stop for Death – Emily DickinsonPorphyria’s Lover – Robert BrowningParadise Lost – John MiltonDickinson – Apple TVThe Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson – Aff LinkPoem #14 – Emily DickinsonEmily Dickinson – Cynthia Griffin Wolff – Aff LinkInstagram reel from @davidkristianpFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

We’re off to Rhode Island by way of St. Louis in this episode! We’re breaking down Taylor Swift’s ‘the last great american dynasty’, a track from 2020’s folklore and the final song she submitted for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Uncle Jerry explains how his opinion on this poem changed from his first few readings, and Angela talks through her thoughts on the five submitted songs as a whole and why she thinks Taylor chose them.Works Cited:Blue Blood – Craig UngerA Rose for Emily – William FaulknerRebekah Harkness’ Starfish BroochThe Outrageous Life of Rebekah Harkness, Taylor Swift’s High-Society Muse – Elise TaylorThe Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald – Aff LinkThe 100 Best Songs of 2020 – PitchforkJacob’s Pillowthe last great american dynasty lyric videoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

In this episode, we are covering the fourth song that Taylor Swift submitted to be considered for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame—Blank Space. This 1989 track was one of her first pop hits, and Uncle Jerry finds the humorous and feminist lenses the poem was written through to be interesting to dissect. We’ll wrap the conversation up and talk about the songs as a whole collection next week.Works Cited:Tabula RasaDactylIambYellow Rose of TexasThe Ballad of Jed ClampettGilligan’s Island Theme SongBallad MeterThe Gallic WarsThe Twelve Caesars – Suetonius – Aff LinkThe Madwoman in the Attic – Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar – Aff LinkJane Eyre: Deluxe Painted Edition – Charlotte Bronte – Aff LinkThe Yellow WallpaperBlank Space Music VideoBlack Space Voice MemoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

We’re back and we’re kicking 2026 off with the three remaining tracks from Taylor’s submission to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Spoiler alert: she was inducted! We’ll talk more about that in the final of these three episodes, but today we are focused on Anti-Hero. Uncle Jerry wonders about Taylor’s psychological status when writing this song and Angela has an A-ha! moment about how the music cues us to maybe feel differently than the lyrics alone would make us feel.Works Cited:First Person DeixisCharles Barkley Nike CommercialBeauty and the Beast (1991)Brigid Kaelin on InstagramTaylor talking about Anti-HeroAnti-Hero Music VideoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry Instagram

Happy New Year! With New Year’s Day on our episode release day, it only felt right to cover this masterpiece from Reputation. Uncle Jerry unknowingly connects this song with many others, blowing Angela’s mind once again. We’re taking a short break after this episode, but we’ll see you back here in a few weeks with more poetry!Works Cited:Nine Princes in Amber – Roger Zelazny – Aff LinkWhen Harry Met Sally (1989)A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens – Aff LinkThe Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway – Aff LinkA Valediction: Forbidding Mourning – John DonneFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

Merry Christmas! Sorry for the sad song choice, but it just felt right. We’re trudging down the road not taken with evermore’s ‘tis the damn season. Uncle Jerry isn’t so sure about this one at first, but he comes around by the end. Works Cited:TropeSweet Home Alabama (2002)The Family Man (2000)Frank CapraAutofictionCatcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – Aff LinkThe Road Not Taken – Robert FrostIntertextualityFire and Ice – Robert FrostMending Wall – Robert FrostLook Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe – Aff LinkYou Can’t Go Home Again – Thomas Wolfe – Aff LinkTis The Damn Season – Lyric VideoFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

This is one of our most requested episodes, and here it is, just in time for the holidays! Uncle Jerry picked up on something that Angela had never noticed in the poem, and they get into a bit of the Tay-lore about what inspired The Tortured Poets Department. Works Cited:e.e. cummingsThe Fates of Greek MythologyJust Kids – Patti Smith – Aff LinkBreaking Up Is Hard to Do – Neil SedakaWater Lilies – Claude MonetT.S. EliotMisery (1990)SynecdocheEpistropheFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

After all the talk about Romanticism in the last episode, we’re taking it to the New Romantics this week. Uncle Jerry teaches us all about the sociocultural movement of the late 1970s and 1980s called New Romanticism, featuring The Blitz Kids, the London club scene, and all the fun and freedom of the era.Works Cited:Neoclassicism vs. RomanticismDavid BowieBoy GeorgeAnnie LennoxThe Blitz KidsSweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics – Dylan Jones – Aff LinkSpandau BalletSteve StrangeBest of New Romantics – Spotify PlaylistRoad to Ruin – The RamonesHeartbreak Is the National Anthem – Rob Sheffield – Aff LinkAdam AntTaylor Swift’s Manuscripts – Natali BarbaniFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We are letting Taylor Swift take us to the lakes today! These are the lyrics Angela used to convince Uncle Jerry to do this podcast, and his analysis does not disappoint. Come with us to learn all about Romanticism, The Lakes Poets, and how Taylor expertly weaves those two into this poem.Works Cited:A Brief Guide to RomanticismThe Lake PoetsLyrical Ballads – William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Aff LinkSense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – Aff LinkRomanticism vs. NeoclassicismThe Last of the Mohicans – 1992William WordsworthSamuel Taylor ColeridgeDorothy WordsworthDove CottageRobert SoutheyThomas De QuincyJohn KeatsPercy Bysshe ShelleyTales from Shakespeare – Charles Lamb and Mary LambJohn RuskinHarriet MartineauThe Lake Isle of Innisfree – William Butler YeatsSonnets from the Portuguese 20: Beloved, my Beloved, when I think – Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Full Book Aff LinkThe Passionate Shepherd to His Love – Christopher MarloweHartley Coleridge Poetic InversionAurora Leigh – Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFrankenstein – Mary Shelley – Aff LinkI Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – William WordsworthFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We are finally covering a song from Speak Now! I’m so sorry to all the Speak Now stans that it took this long, but we got here. Uncle Jerry takes us through Taylor’s word choice throughout Enchanted, and how it reveals the specific fairy tale inspiration behind the song. Angela explains the lore of this being Taylor’s only completely self-written album and the moment that inspired the song. Works Cited:Trochee / Trochaic MeterSmiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed TruthWe Wear the Mask – Paul Laurence DunbarCaesuraMending Wall – Robert FrostIndirect DiscourseMetonymySome Enchanted Evening – South PacificFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

In this episode, we dig into one of most requested songs of late, The Black Dog. Taylor Swift mentioned in an interview that no one really understood this song, so we got Uncle Jerry on the case. Tune in to hear his take!Works Cited:Roland Barthes – The Death of The AuthorShe Walks in Beauty – Lord ByronThe Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Aff LinkThe Malleus Maleficarum – Heinrich Kramer, James Sprenger – Aff LinkFor The Love of London Pubs – Doug Harper, Vic Norman, Andie Lafrentz – Aff LinkThe Pub: A Cultural Institution – Pete Brown – Aff LinkPolysyndetonOf Mice and Men – John Steinbeck – Aff LinkTo a Mouse – Robert BurnsFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram

Well friends, I think we did it. Stay all the way to the end for a big surprise out of Uncle Jerry.In this episode, we're covering one of Angela's favorite TTPD tracks, Peter. Uncle Jerry finds layer after layer in the poem, and decides that this is a beautiful, melancholic reflection on the loss of innocence and youth, told through the lens of Peter Pan.Works Cited:Peter Pan - the Original 1911 Classic – J.M. Barrie – Aff LinkIllustrated Peter Pan: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens – J.M. Barrie – Aff LinkThe Dead Poets Society (1989)I'm sorry for the Dead—Today – Emily Dickinson This Is Just To Say – William Carlos WilliamsIn Just – Spring – e.e. cummings Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert FrostLove's Labor's Lost – William Shakespeare Lyric VideoPeter Surprise SongFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We’re taking it back to high school this week and exploring the country phenomenon that is Love Story. This is our first track from Fearless (2008), and Uncle Jerry explores all of the themes and tropes that are missing from the poem when compared to her current work, like complex metaphors and twisted idioms.Works Cited:Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare – Affiliate LinkCatullus – Roman PoetLet Us Live and Love (5) – CatullusThe Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne – Aff LinkEasy A (2010)Doctor Zhivago – Boris Pasternak – Aff LinkDeconstructionismFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

Step into our office and leave it with us. We protect the family! Join us as we walk through Father Figure from The Life of a Showgirl. Uncle Jerry gives his theories on the inspiration for the song, including many different movies, and Angela works out where she thinks the narrator changes mid-track.Pour yourself some brown liquor and you won’t be sleeping with the fishes.Works Cited:A Star is Born – All Versions RankedAll About Eve (1950)Goodfellas (1990)The Godfather (1972)The Freshman (1990)Ragged Dick: The 1868 Classic Rags to Riches Tale – Horatio Alger – Affiliate LinkFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We have officially entered our Showgirl era, and we’re kicking it off with The Fate of Ophelia. Uncle Jerry teaches us all about Ophelia’s role in Hamlet, one of the Ophelia paintings Taylor may have drawn inspiration from, and a couple of feminist critics’ takes on Ophelia. We then get into the song, Angela weaves in a few nuggets of Tay-lore, and they round it out by discussing the feminist issues with the track,  watching the music video and listening to the voice memo of the writing of the song. Works Cited:Hamlet – William Shakespeare – Affiliate LinkWhat are Foil Characters?Representing Ophelia: Women, Madness, and the Responsibilities of Feminist Criticism  – Elaine ShowalterHearing Ophelia: Gender and Tragic Discourse in "Hamlet" – Sandra K. FischerDesolation Row – Bob DylanThe Story of Ophelia – The TatePre-Raphaelite Women – Jan MarshDante Gabriel Rossetti – Ash RussellThe Essential Pre-Raphaelites – Lucinda Hawksley – Aff LinkThe Language of Flowers – Margaret Pickston – Aff LinkThe Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady – Edith Holden – Aff LinkThe King’s Two Bodies – Ernst Kantorowicz – Aff LinkFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We are wiping the incense dust off the shelf and picking ourselves up off the floor with Maroon this week. This Midnights track from 2022 is full of imagery, senses, colors, and so much more. Uncle Jerry also surprises us all with an interpretation from left field, which allows Angela the space to explain a specific sect of swifties.Enjoy!Works Cited:Richard Wright – Black American novelistParallelism in LiteratureRobert Frost – The Road Not TakenRobert Frost – Stopping By Woods on a Snowy EveningLawrence Ferlinghetti – American Beat poetGregory Corso – American Beat poetJack Kerouac – American Beat poetOn The Road – Jack KerouacFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

We’re coming down from our Showgirl high, and taking it back to 1989 this week. Uncle Jerry takes us through Clean, and breaks down the metaphors and themes found in the poem, including addiction, healing, personal growth, and personal agency.He also asks Angela who this song was inspired by, and admits that he’s now wondering about that in all of these songs. :) There are links below to (most of!) the recommended literature from the episode. Some links are affiliate links, which means if you click and purchase, we will make a small commission at no cost to you.Works Cited:Metaphors We Live By –  George Lakoff and Mark JohnsonThe Great War and Modern Memory – Paul FussellNot Waving but Drowning – Stevie SmithAfterwards – Sara TeasdaleAfter Love – Sara TeasdaleFollow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

The Swiftie and The Scholar took a field trip to the movie theater this weekend to hang out with Taylor and the Swifties! This was Uncle Jerry's first in-person swiftie experience, and he gives us his thoughts, along with his first impressions of a few of the new tracks. Angela gives her first impressions on the album and discusses which songs the podcast will cover first.Follow Us:⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠