The Swiftie and The Scholar

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. cummingsThirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird – Wallace StevensMaslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsLore & LyricsUlysses – James JoyceA 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 TwainHilary Duff is trying to listen to the healthy part of her brain – Los Angeles TimesThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s InstagramAngela’s YouTube Channel

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:CoupletsHeroic coupletsAnaphoraStarship Troopers (1997)EnjambmentEllipsisIn medias resThe Odyssey – HomerCaesuraWhy I Write – Joan DidionSimileThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s InstagramAngela’s YouTube Channel

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:ParadoxApostropheSynecdocheI Would Die 4 U – PrinceYou’ve Got a Friend in Me – Randy NewmanEasy Silence – The ChicksTwo Sleepy People – Fats WallerStuck in the Middle With You – Stealers WheelYou Are My Sunshine – Jimmie Davis Standing In The Rain – John Paul YoungStanding In The Rain – Al GreenStanding In The Rain – Electric Light OrchestraThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s InstagramAngela’s YouTube Channel

In this episode, Uncle Jerry and Angela tackle The Great War from 2022’s Midnights. Uncle Jerry wrestles with the idea of using a horrific event as a metaphor, and he teaches all about the many floral symbols used throughout the poem.Works Cited:The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady – Edith Holden – Aff LinkThe Great War and Modern Memory – Paul Fussell – Aff LinkThe Strange Destiny of Rupert Brooke Hardcover – John LehmannSiegfried SassoonMemoirs of an Infantry Officer: The Memoirs of George Sherston – Siegfried Sassoon – Aff LinkGoodbye to All That – Robert Graves – Aff LinkAll Quiet on the Western Front (1930)War Poems – Wilfred Owen – Aff LinkDulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred OwenPoetry of the First World War: An Anthology – Tim Kendall – Aff LinkThe Soldier – Rupert BrookeIn Flanders Fields – John McCraeThe History and Rhymes of the Lost Battalion – Buck Private McCollum – Aff LinkCrimson & Clover – Tommy James and the ShondellsThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

We are taking it back to the 1920s (and then the 1970s) today with Clara Bow from The Tortured Poets Department. Uncle Jerry talks all about the early film industry, Stevie Nicks, the violence of beauty and fame for women, and so much more. Works Cited:Clara BowThe Jazz Singer (1927)Greta GarboDouglas FairbanksJohn GilbertMichael CurtizCasablanca (1942)The Lodger (1947)World’s Columbian Exposition (1893)The Birth of a Nation (1915)It (1927)It – Elinor Glyn – Aff LinkCaesuraHoratio AlgerDeath of a Salesman – Arthur MillerA Cool Million – Nathanael West – Aff LinkThe Tragical History of Doctor Faustus – Christopher MarloweTo an Athlete Dying Young – A. E. HousmanIdle Fame – John ClareThe Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson – Aff LinkFame is a fickle food (1659) – Emily DickinsonFame is a bee. (1788) – Emily DickinsonMirrorball/Clara Bow Mash-upThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

FIXED AUDIO!Call all your friends and cousins, we’re finally covering How Did It End? from The Tortured Poets Department. Uncle Jerry finds tons of beautiful poetics and dark humor in this one, and Angela discusses its connections to both The Prophecy and But Daddy I Love Him. If you want to vote for a specific song for June, join us on Patreon to play along!Works Cited:General Reference PronounAutofiction as a Doorway Into TruthConceit – Literary termCome One, Come All – All Time LowSlant Rhyme"Now give three cheers" – HMS PinaforeThe Telephone Hour – Bye Bye BirdieThe Raven – Edgar Allan PoeAnnabel Lee – Edgar Allan PoeTo -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad – Edgar Allan PoeHyperion – John KeatsOde to a Nightingale – John KeatsA Rose for Emily – William FaulknerThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

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:AphorismDavid HumeImmanuel KantSentimentalismSentimental Novels in Early American FictionThe Man of Feeling – Henry Mackenzie – Aff LinkPamela: Or Virtue Rewarded – Samuel Richardson – Aff LinkSense and Sensibility – Jane Austen – Aff LinkA Treatise of Human Nature Paperback – David Hume – Aff LinkThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

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 LinkRosicrucian FellowshipThe Secrets of the Belline Oracle – Sylvie Steinbach – Aff LinkCrowley Thoth Tarot DeckVisconti-Sforza Tarot Cards – The Morgan LibraryVisconti Sforza Tarot Cards Cards – Stuart R. Kaplan – Aff LinkMiniature Rider-Waite® Tarot – Pamela C. Smith – Aff LinkRider Waite Gold Foil Tarot Deck – Aff LinkThe Original Rider Waite: The Pictorial Key To The Tarot: An Illustrated Guide – A.E. Waite – Aff LinkTarot Revelations – Joseph Campbell, Richard Roberts – Aff Link A to z Horoscope Maker and Delineator – Llewellyn George – Aff LinkA Treatise on the Astrolabe – Geoffrey Chaucer – Aff LinkAntithesis – Rhetorical DeviceGimpel the Fool: And Other Stories – Isaac Bashevis Singer – Aff LinkThe Miller’s Tale – Geoffrey ChaucerMorphology of the Folktale – V. Propp – Aff LinkAarne-Thompson-Uther IndexTaylor Swift’s Tarot Card Revelation Proves None of Travis Kelce Romance Was AccidentalInclusioThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram