In this episode, Uncle Jerry and Angela get caught up on the latest Swiftie news, including the engagement and The Release Party of a Showgirl, and then they get into answering your questions from Instagram and TikTok. We cover poetry curriculum, how to get into scholarly pursuits, how Angela convinced Uncle Jerry to do the podcast, and how we select which songs we cover.
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:
i carry your heart with me – e.e. cummings
The Hornblower Series – C.S. Forester
Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Book 1) – C.S. Forester
The Good Shepherd – C.S. Forester
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
Stranger in a Strange Land Paperback – Robert A. Heinlein
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Oxford Book of Modern Verse – W.B. Yeats
The Oxford Book of English Verse – Christopher Ricks
The Norton Anthology of American Literature – Robert S. Levine
E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems, 1904–1962
The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens: The Corrected Edition
Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman
Metaphors We Live By – George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair – Pablo Neruda
The Poet and His Book: The Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton
The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry Paperback – Rita Dove
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume 1: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker – Robert Hass
The Oxford Book of American Short Stories – Joyce Carol Oates
A Cool Million Paperback – Nathanael West
Lucky Jim Paperback – Kingsley Amis
Cold Comfort Farm Paperback – Stella Gibbons
The Old Curiosity Shop – Charles Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens
Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
Come walk through the door with us, cause the air is getting cooooold. Our 10th episode is here, and we were hoping you had 10 minutes to spare for this one.
We are digging deep into the All Too Well universe, and Uncle Jerry compares both the original version and the 10 minute version, what he thinks about the lyrics that were redacted for the edited version, and Taylor Swift’s masterful use of metaphor and other literary devices in every line of this song.
Works Cited:
The Prelude – William Wordsworth – Affiliate Link
Orality and Literacy – Walter J. Ong – Aff Link
Metaphors We Live By – George Lakoff and Mark Johnson – Aff Link
In Just – Spring – e.e. Cummings
Let me not to the marriage of true minds (Sonnet 116) – William Shakespeare
A Rose for Emily – William Faulkner
Follow Us:
Dom Perignon, did you bring it?
Today we’re toasting to Champagne Problems from Taylor Swift’s 2020 album, evermore. Uncle Jerry discusses the different meter used throughout the lyrics, and also wonders if there’s a deeper meaning with society’s expectations and the narrator’s autonomy throughout the story.
Angela brings up the Swiftie discussion about which word they’ll never say again, and they also tell the story of Uncle Jerry officiating Angela’s wedding.
Works Cited:
Take the A Train – Duke Ellington
Anapest Disnarration and the Unmentioned in Fact and Fiction – Marina Lambrou – Affiliate Link
Follow Us:
Today we’re putting the money in the bag and stealing the keys, and discussing Taylor Swift’s Getaway Car from 2017. This cult Swiftie fave is our first track from Reputation, and Angela chose it because she knew Uncle Jerry would love the Dickens reference in the first line.
Watch as the duo dissects each line, and Uncle Jerry picks up on the self-reflection Taylor wrote into the song.
Works Cited:
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens – Affiliate Link
Shades of Gray – Carolyn Reeder – Aff Link
Nicholas Nickleby – Charles Dickens – Aff Link
Getaway Car Shirt – Girl Tribe Co.
Follow Us:
Let's talk through So Long, London!
In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Uncle Jerry and Angela dissect the poetic lyrics of the fifth track from Taylor Swift's 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department.
They find tons of literary devices and references, and Uncle Jerry even makes another correct prediction on the song's intro.
Stay until the end to hear Uncle Jerry's grade for the song as a whole.
Works Cited:
Life of Johnson – James Boswell – Affiliate Link
Perrine’s Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry – Aff Link
Will-o’-the-wisp – Irish Folklore
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison – Aff Link
Follow Us:
In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Angela and Uncle Jerry are taking it waaayyy back to 2006 with Taylor Swift’s first ever track 5, Cold As You. It might seem like a weird choice, but Angela wanted to present Uncle Jerry with some of Taylor’s earliest work so he could gain context around her growth as an artist over her entire career.
Uncle Jerry finds a few redeeming qualities in the song, and together they explore other break-up poetry from the greats.
Works Cited:
Modern Love: I – George Meredith Sonnet
It’s Not You, It’s Me – Jerry Williams – Affiliate Link
The Research Society for Victorian Periodicals
A Broken Appointment – Thomas Hardy
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson – Aff Link
Heart! We will forget him! – Emily Dickinson
I held a Jewel in my fingers – Emily Dickinson
Eras Tour Surprise Song — Houston
Follow Us:
In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Uncle Jerry and Angela analyze Death By A Thousand Cuts from Taylor Swift's 2019 album, Lover.
Uncle Jerry finds literary devices aplenty in the lyrics, and discusses how she uses those devices to deftly handle the storytelling in the poem via indirect characterization.
They also discuss the roundabout inspiration of this song and the Swiftie tradition of friendship bracelets.
Works Cited:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare – Affiliate Link
Death By A Thousand Cuts – Timothy Brook, Jérôme Bourgon, Gregory Blue – Aff Link
Great Expectations — Charles Dickens – Aff Link
Kyn You Believe It — IDK Traffic Light
Follow Us:
In this bonus episode, Uncle Jerry and Angela discuss the excitement of the last week, including the cryptic Taylor Nation and New Heights posts, the countdowns, the new album announcement, and the two hour podcast episode heard 'round the world.
Uncle Jerry teaches us a little bit about Ophelia and Hamlet to give some context around the album's opening track title, The Fate of Ophelia, and they discuss how Uncle Jerry got just a lilllll excited about the news.
In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Angela asks Uncle Jerry about his favorite music before they dive into cowboy like me from Taylor Swift’s 2020 album evermore.
Uncle Jerry teaches us about the dramatic monologue and how Taylor uses this device in the song. They also talk about the use of cliches, indeterminate endings, and they discuss whether they think the couple in the song ends up together or not.
Works Cited:
Georgia on my Mind — Hoagy Carmichael
My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Uncle Jerry and Angela dissect Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve from Taylor Swift’s 2022 album Midnights. They briefly discuss their own church connections, explore the various religious imagery and references used throughout the song, and come to understand that they relate to the song in similar but different ways.
Uncle Jerry grades the song and brings in some poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to round out his thoughts on the sadness of the track.
Works Cited:
Rhetorical Theory and Practice
Immortal Technique – Dance with the Devil
Sonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Affiliate Link
Les Miserables – Victor Hugo, Christine Donogher – Aff Link
Uncle Jerry and Angela tackle Taylor Swift’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’ in the second episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar. Uncle Jerry talks about his journey from hate to appreciation of this track, he introduces the concept of Monstrous Femininity, and they talk about the cultural image of the witch throughout history.
Angela gives a (not so) brief look into her role as a Swiftie, and they watch and discuss both the lyric video and the Eras Tour performance of this TTPD track.
Works Cited:
Chatterton – Painting by Henry Wallis
Dylan Thomas – Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Snoweylily – Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee – Affiliate Link
The Monstrous-Feminine – Barbara Creed – Affiliate Link
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? – Official Lyric Video
In the debut episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Angela McDow, the Swiftie, and her uncle Dr. Jerry Coats, the Scholar, dig into My Tears Ricochet, the fifth track from Taylor Swift's Folklore album.
They discuss the different folklore elements that Taylor uses in the song, the prevailing fan theory on the song's inspiration, and Uncle Jerry watches his first Eras Tour performance.
Works Cited:
Morphology of the Folktale – V. Propp – Affiliate Link
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature; Volume 6.1 Index (A-K) – Stith Thompson – Aff Link
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature; Volume 6.1 Index (L-Z) - Stith Thompson – Aff Link
From the Beast to The Blonde – Marina Wariner
The Uses of Enchantment – Bruno Bettelheim – Aff Link
Follow Us:
