The Swiftie and The Scholar

Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • 5.0 (40)
  • MUSIC COMMENTARY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A weekly podcast exploring the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. Hosted by Angela McDow, the Swiftie, and Dr. Jerry Coats, the Scholar, we read between the lines AND the liner notes. Join us each week for lyrical deep dive through Taylor Swift's eras.

  1. 3D AGO

    The Sentimentalism of Marjorie

    In this episode, we are tackling marjorie, a track from Taylor Swift’s evermore album from 2020. Uncle Jerry teaches us about sentimentalism in literature, and Angela blows his mind by telling him the real life Marjorie’s backstory.  Works Cited: Aphorism David Hume Immanuel Kant Sentimentalism Sentimental Novels in Early American Fiction The Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie – Aff Link Pamela: Or Virtue Rewarded – Samuel Richardson – Aff Link Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – Aff Link A Treatise of Human Nature Paperback – David Hume – Aff Link The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 2m

  2. APR 30 ·  BONUS

    Dr. Uncle Jerry University: Poetry 101

    We’re doing something a bit different today! Some conversations have popped up in various comment sections about why Uncle Jerry prefers specific types of poetry, and which lenses we use to dissect those poems, whether we’re talking about Charles Dickens, Emily Dickenson, or Taylor Swift. So Uncle Jerry put together a lecture explaining how and why he views certain poetic styles the way he does, and explains the different criticism styles and theories we use to understand a poem’s meaning and impact. Hope you enjoy! Please leave any questions in the comments that he can answer either here or in a later episode.  Works Cited: Marxist Literary Criticism Post-Colonial Criticism Reader-response theory Key Theories of Wolfgang Iser Is There a Text in This Class? – Stanley Fish – Aff Link Psychological Criticism Feminist Theory New Criticism Felicia Dorothea Hemans On the Intentional Fallacy Hyperion – John Keats Affective Fallacy Queer Theory Deconstruction Semiotics Critical Race Theory New Historicism Stephen Greenblatt and New Historicism Sketches by Boz – Charles Dickens – Aff Link Sonnets Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems – William Shakespeare – Aff Link Limerick Haiku Ballad Meter (or Common Measure) Villanelle Concrete Poetry Life Studies – Robert Lowell – Aff Link  The Collected Poems – Sylvia Plath – Aff Link My Papa’s Waltz – Theodore Roethke The Real Slim Shady – Eminem Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture Paperback – Dana Gioia – Aff Link A Bit Much – Lyndsay Rush – Aff Link Lyndsay Rush – Instagram Amanda Gorman The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 16m

  3. APR 23

    Fate vs. Free Will in The Prophecy

    We are getting witchy today as we dive deep into The Prophecy from Taylor Swift’s 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department. Uncle Jerry teaches us about some specific references to tarot and the occult in literature, and how that shaped a few of his interests. Angela tells the story of a tarot reading that Taylor received from a friend, and how she thinks it inspired this song.    Works Cited: The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats – William Butler Yeats – Aff Link Rosicrucian Fellowship The Secrets of the Belline Oracle – Sylvie Steinbach – Aff Link Crowley Thoth Tarot Deck Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards – The Morgan Library Visconti Sforza Tarot Cards Cards – Stuart R. Kaplan – Aff Link Miniature Rider-Waite® Tarot – Pamela C. Smith – Aff Link Rider Waite Gold Foil Tarot Deck – Aff Link The Original Rider Waite: The Pictorial Key To The Tarot: An Illustrated Guide – A.E. Waite – Aff Link Tarot Revelations – Joseph Campbell, Richard Roberts – Aff Link  A to z Horoscope Maker and Delineator – Llewellyn George – Aff Link A Treatise on the Astrolabe – Geoffrey Chaucer – Aff Link Antithesis – Rhetorical Device Gimpel the Fool: And Other Stories – Isaac Bashevis Singer – Aff Link The Miller’s Tale – Geoffrey Chaucer Morphology of the Folktale – V. Propp – Aff Link Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index Taylor Swift’s Tarot Card Revelation Proves None of Travis Kelce Romance Was Accidental Inclusio The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 21m

  4. APR 16

    Cardigan – The Folklore Love Triangle Part 3

    We’ve made it to the third and final episode of our beloved Folklore Love Triangle! We hope you’ve enjoyed this little series as much as we have. This episode dives into all the poetry and themes of cardigan, and then Uncle Jerry wraps up all the themes and questions and answers found in these three songs. Works Cited: Rashomon Effect The Rashomon Effect: When Ethnographers Disagree – Karl G. Heider Disnarration and the Unmentioned in Fact and Fiction – Marina Lambrou – Aff Link Disnarration and the performance of storytelling in Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore The Blind Man and The Elephant Split Narratives or Fragmented Narratives Enjambment  Epistrophe Anaphora The Longest Time – Billy Joel  Love Stinks – The J. Geils Band The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 19m

  5. APR 9

    Betty – The Folklore Love Triangle Part 2

    We’re back for the second installment of the folklore love triangle! Uncle Jerry really changed his tune on these lyrics, both as a poem and as a song, while Angela notices some “teenage diction” that she’s never picked up on before. Come back next week to wrap this all up with us! Works Cited: Rashomon Effect The Rashomon Effect: When Ethnographers Disagree – Karl G. Heider Disnarration and the Unmentioned in Fact and Fiction – Marina Lambrou – Aff Link Disnarration and the performance of storytelling in Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore The Blind Man and The Elephant Split Narratives or Fragmented Narratives Winesburg, Ohio – Sherwood Anderson – Aff Link Spoon River Anthology – Edgar Lee Masters – Aff Link The Flowers of Evil – Charles Baudelaire – Aff Link Flipped (2010) Apophasis Hyperbole Book of Genesis The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 8m

  6. APR 2

    August – The Folklore Love Triangle Part 1

    Friends, it's finally here! Over the next three episodes, we are diving into our beloved Folklore Love Triangle. First up is August. Uncle Jerry begins by talking about the narrative of these three songs and how they are woven together across the album, and then we dissect the poem of August.  These three episodes will all build on each other, and we’ll round out the discussion in week 3.  Works Cited: Rashomon Effect The Rashomon Effect: When Ethnographers Disagree – Karl G. Heider The Blind Man and The Elephant Disnarration and the performance of storytelling in Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore Split Narratives or Fragmented Narratives Dramatic Irony Kenning The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    1h 9m

  7. MAR 26

    The Feminist Critique of Mad Woman

    We are getting angry and witchy today with mad woman from Taylor Swift’s 2020 album, folklore. Uncle Jerry teaches us where the word hysteria comes from, how women have been written about for centuries, and how sometimes, we make our own monsters.  Listen to the song with us on Patreon! Works Cited: The Madwoman in the Attic – Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar – Aff Link In Medias Res: Definition and Examples To Start a Story in the Middle Dramatic Monologue Orion and Scorpius The Mourning Bride – William Congreve Summa Theologica – Thomas Aquinas Handlyng Synne – Robert Manning of Brunne Christian Caldwell, Woman Witchhunter Cassandra x mad woman x I Did Something Bad Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

    57 min

  8. MAR 19

    The Psychological Burden of The Albatross

    We have a much-requested poem for you in this episode! Uncle Jerry and Angela tackle The Albatross from The Tortured Poets Department, but first, Uncle Jerry lets us all know how disappointed he is with us as a class lololol. Oops! Join us as we discuss relationships in the public eye, and the journey of repudiation and redemption the song takes us on. Works Cited: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Samuel Taylor Coleridge Aubrey & Maturin – Jack O’Brian Book of Jonah Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis Presley Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Ode to the West Wind – Percy Bysshe Shelley Wild nights - Wild nights! – Emily Dickinson Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare Antigone – Sophocles Antony and Cleopatra – William Shakespeare The Bad Seed – William March – Aff Link The Bad Seed (1956) Matthew 13 The Hero with a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell – Aff Link Richard Traverner Barchester Towers – Anthony Trollope – Aff Link Doggerel L'Albatros – Charles Baudelaire Frame Stories Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    59 min
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5
out of 5
40 Ratings

About

A weekly podcast exploring the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. Hosted by Angela McDow, the Swiftie, and Dr. Jerry Coats, the Scholar, we read between the lines AND the liner notes. Join us each week for lyrical deep dive through Taylor Swift's eras.

Information

  • Creator
    Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • Show Website
    The Swiftie and The Scholar

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