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
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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
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