The Swiftie and The Scholar

Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • 4.9 (469)
  • 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. 3h ago

    Art Becomes Memory in Tim McGraw

    In this episode, we are taking it back to the very beginning with Tim McGraw from Taylor Swift’s debut album. Uncle Jerry finds plenty to discuss and is charmed by hearing both young Taylor’s early poetics and her country twang.  Works Cited: Tug McGraw In medias res Free indirect discourse Alliteration Metonymy Signposting Rasselas – Samuel Johnson Palimpsest Enjambment Frame story or frame structure Leitmotif The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Reddit ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  2. 1d ago ·  Bonus

    BONUS: Interview with Sarah Anderson, Author of Fallow

    Today I have something a bit different for you! I sat down with Sarah Anderson, author of Fallow, to discuss getting published, her love of short stories, how she wrote the main character of the book, and so much more. All of the books we discussed are linked below. Fallow – Sarah Anderson: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Take Me to Kirkland – Sarah Anderson: https://joylandpublishing.com/fiction/take-me-to-kirkland/ The Best American Short Stories 2025 –  Celeste Ng, Nicole A. Lamy: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Marlena – Julie Buntin: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Famous Men – Julie Buntin: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Health Trackers Are Everywhere. Do Babies Need Them Too? – The Daily: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5QNrdUSF28Vsxla5a0exzK?si=TPgMlCapQwy4AJuqP1ptoQ  Temporary – Hilary Leichter: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm The Quick and the Dead – Joy Williams: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm The Visiting Privilege – Joy Williams: *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm All Fours – Miranda July *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm The First Bad Man – Miranda July *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thorpe *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm East of Eden – John Steinbeck *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm The Maltese Version – Katy Simpson Smith *Amazon *Bookshop.org *Libro.fm Follow me around the internet: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@angelawyattmcdow Instagram⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/angelawyattmcdow TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@angelawyattmcdow The Swiftie and The Scholar YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@UCyLE2ovIvwERY4lB0nNev5A  The Swiftie and The Scholar Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheSwiftieandTheScholar The Swiftie and The Scholar ⁠⁠Instagram https://www.instagram.com/swiftieandscholarpod/

  3. Oct 15

    Folklore as a Unified Literary Work | Wrapping Up Folklore: Part 2

    We did it! One album down, lots to go. Uncle Jerry takes us through alllllll the unifying themes, devices, questions, and more (13 to be exact) of the folklore album as a whole. Thanks for coming on this journey with us! *Links with an asterisk are affiliate links, which allow us to make a small commission on your purchase at no cost to you. Thanks so much for your support! Works Cited: Sonnets from the Portuguese 20: Beloved, my Beloved, when I think – Elizabeth Barrett Browning *Aurora Leigh: A Norton Critical Edition – Elizabeth Barrett Browning *Morphology of the Folktale – V. Propp  *The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales – Bruno Bettelheim *Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion – Jack Zipes *Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale – Jack Zipes *The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales – Jack Zipes  *The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: A Norton Critical Edition – Jack Zipes  *Literary Theory: An Introduction – Terry Eagleton *Witches, Ogres, and the Devil's Daughter: Encounters with Evil in Fairy Tales – Mario Jacoby, Verena Kast, Ingrid Riedel *Retelling / Rereading: The Fate of Storytelling in Modern Times – Karl Kroeber  *Linguistic Criticism – Roger Fowler *From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers – Marina Warner *No Go, the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling, and Making Mock – Marina Warner [anyone lived in a pretty how town] – e.e. cummings Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird – Wallace Stevens Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Lore & Lyrics Ulysses – James Joyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce *Slaughter-House Five – Kurt Vonnegut *The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger *Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain Hilary Duff is trying to listen to the healthy part of her brain – Los Angeles Times The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Reddit ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  4. Oct 8

    Wrapping Up Folklore: Part 1

    Well, guys, we’ve really stressed Uncle Jerry out with this one. He went so deep on the folklore album as a whole that this episode focuses mostly on the prologue and how it sets up this new style of storytelling, different from all her previous albums. Hope you enjoy, and we’ll see you back here next week for Part 2! *Links with an asterisk are affiliate links, which allow us to make a small commission on your purchase at no cost to you. Thanks so much for your support! Works Cited: *Starship Troopers – Robert A. Heinlein  Folklore (Taylor Swift album) *Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems – William Shakespeare *Sonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning *Astrophil and Stella – Sir Philip Sidney  Semiotics The Odyssey – Homer Beowulf Dryads Hulder Folklore prologue Daddy – Sylvia Plath Anecdote of the Jar – Wallace Stevens The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Reddit ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  5. Oct 1

    The Despair and Persistence of This is Me Trying

    We’ve made it to the end of the folklore road! Join Uncle Jerry and Angela as they discuss this is me trying, where the duo finds some Typical Taylor, ambiguity, paradox, multiple meanings, and so much more.  Come back for the next two weeks as we wrap-up discussion of the album as a whole. Works Cited: Couplets Heroic couplets Anaphora Starship Troopers (1997) Enjambment Ellipsis In medias res The Odyssey – Homer Caesura Why I Write – Joan Didion Simile The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  6. Sep 24

    The Secretive Destruction of Illicit Affairs

    Today we’re covering our penultimate folklore poem with Illicit Affairs. Uncle Jerry finds this song fits perfectly within the category of folklore, and shows us just how Taylor Swift’s use of language showcases the lack of love in this song. *Links with an asterisk are affiliate links, which allow us to make a small commission on your purchase at no cost to you. Thanks so much for your support! Works Cited: Interlocutor Imperative verb Dramatic irony The Book of Jonah Synecdoche The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost Aphorism Assonance Alliteration *The Pleasure of the Text – Roland Barthes Anaphora Synesthesia Sonnet 138 – William Shakespeare The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  7. Sep 17

    The Paradox and Parallelism of Peace

    Did we finally find Uncle Jerry’s least favorite folklore poem? And maybe Angela’s too? In this episode, we dissect Peace from Taylor Swift’s 2020 album, and Uncle Jerry finds many paradoxes and double meanings, while struggling to find a window to crawl through into the narrative.  Works Cited: Paradox Apostrophe Synecdoche I Would Die 4 U – Prince You’ve Got a Friend in Me – Randy Newman Easy Silence – The Chicks Two Sleepy People – Fats Waller Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealers Wheel You Are My Sunshine – Jimmie Davis  Standing In The Rain – John Paul Young Standing In The Rain – Al Green Standing In The Rain – Electric Light Orchestra The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

  8. Sep 10

    Time’s Mystic Meandering in Invisible String

    Buckle up, folks. This is a long one! Invisible String is up next in our folklore canon, and Uncle Jerry showed up PREPARED. He and Angela chat through folktales about the red thread, handfasting ceremonies, and more before diving into the poem. They then get into a long and philosophical conversation about fate and predestination and Forrest Gump. JOIN US ON REDDIT! *Links with an asterisk are affiliate links, which allow us to make a small commission on your purchase at no cost to you. Thanks so much for your support! Works Cited: All in green went my love riding – e.e. Cummings Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman Red thread of fate Handfasting Pope Innocent III and Handfasting 2 Kings 14:21 – 16 as the age of ascension Epizeuxis *The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway Enjambment Metanarrative Synecdoche Goddesses of Fate Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad Caesura Forrest Gump – Winston Groom Forrest Gump (1994) Design – Robert Frost Hap – Thomas Hardy Proverbs 16:33 The Swiftie and The Scholar Grading Matrix Follow Us: Patreon ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Reddit ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ Threads ⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠ Uncle Jerry’s Instagram Angela’s YouTube Channel

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4.9
out of 5
469 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
    65
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Angela McDow | Dr. Jerry Coats
  • Show Website
    The Swiftie and The Scholar

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