The Swiftie and The Scholar

Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
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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. JAN 1

    The Resolutions of Love in New Year’s Day

    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 Link When Harry Met Sally (1989) A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens – Aff Link The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway – Aff Link A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning – John Donne Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    46 min

  2. 12/24/2025

    The Intertextuality of ‘Tis the Damn Season

    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: Trope Sweet Home Alabama (2002) The Family Man (2000) Frank Capra Autofiction Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – Aff Link The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost Intertextuality Fire and Ice – Robert Frost Mending Wall – Robert Frost Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe – Aff Link You Can’t Go Home Again – Thomas Wolfe – Aff Link Tis The Damn Season – Lyric Video Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    51 min

  3. 12/18/2025

    The Double Entendre of LOML

    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. cummings The Fates of Greek Mythology Just Kids – Patti Smith – Aff Link Breaking Up Is Hard to Do – Neil Sedaka Water Lilies – Claude Monet T.S. Eliot Misery (1990) Synecdoche Epistrophe Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    57 min

  4. 12/11/2025

    The 80s Club Vibes of New Romantics

    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. Romanticism David Bowie Boy George Annie Lennox The Blitz Kids Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics – Dylan Jones – Aff Link Spandau Ballet Steve Strange Best of New Romantics – Spotify Playlist Road to Ruin – The Ramones Heartbreak Is the National Anthem – Rob Sheffield – Aff Link Adam Ant Taylor Swift’s Manuscripts – Natali Barbani Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    55 min

  5. 12/04/2025

    The Romanticism of The Lakes

    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 Romanticism The Lake Poets Lyrical Ballads – William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Aff Link Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – Aff Link Romanticism vs. Neoclassicism The Last of the Mohicans – 1992 William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge Dorothy Wordsworth Dove Cottage Robert Southey Thomas De Quincy John Keats Percy Bysshe Shelley Tales from Shakespeare – Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb John Ruskin Harriet Martineau The Lake Isle of Innisfree – William Butler Yeats Sonnets from the Portuguese 20: Beloved, my Beloved, when I think – Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Full Book Aff Link The Passionate Shepherd to His Love – Christopher Marlowe Hartley Coleridge  Poetic Inversion Aurora Leigh – Elizabeth Barrett Browning Frankenstein – Mary Shelley – Aff Link I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – William Wordsworth Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    1 hr

  6. 11/27/2025

    The Fairytale Diction of Enchanted

    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 Meter Smiling Faces Sometimes – The Undisputed Truth We Wear the Mask – Paul Laurence Dunbar Caesura Mending Wall – Robert Frost Indirect Discourse Metonymy Some Enchanted Evening – South Pacific Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    53 min

  7. 11/20/2025

    The Gothic Tradition of The Black Dog

    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 Author She Walks in Beauty – Lord Byron The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Aff Link The Malleus Maleficarum – Heinrich Kramer, James Sprenger – Aff Link For The Love of London Pubs – Doug Harper, Vic Norman, Andie Lafrentz – Aff Link The Pub: A Cultural Institution – Pete Brown – Aff Link Polysyndeton Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck – Aff Link To a Mouse – Robert Burns Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram

    1h 11m

  8. 11/13/2025

    The Loss of Youth and Innocence in Peter

    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 Link Illustrated Peter Pan: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens – J.M. Barrie – Aff Link The Dead Poets Society (1989) I'm sorry for the Dead—Today – Emily Dickinson  This Is Just To Say – William Carlos Williams In Just – Spring – e.e. cummings  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost Love's Labor's Lost – William Shakespeare  Lyric Video Peter Surprise Song Follow Us: ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠

    57 min
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4.9
out of 5
210 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
    26
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • Show Website
    The Swiftie and The Scholar

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