The Swiftie and The Scholar - The Complex Poetics of So Long, London

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Let's talk through So Long, London!In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Uncle Jerry and Angela dissect the poetic lyrics of the fifth track from Taylor Swift's 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department.They find tons of literary devices and references, and Uncle Jerry even makes another correct prediction on the song's intro.Stay until the end to hear Uncle Jerry's grade for the song as a whole. Works Cited:Life of Johnson – James Boswell – Affiliate LinkPerrine’s Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry – Aff LinkThe Bells — Edgar Allan PoeIgnis fatuusWill-o’-the-wisp – Irish FolkloreOdd Man Out – 1947 filmThe Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison – Aff LinkLyric VideoEras Tour PerformanceFollow Us:⁠YouTube⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠Instagram⁠Angela’s Instagram

The interradian balance. That's so great. We should be filming this. I know. We are. We're figuring out. Welcome to the Swifty and the Scholar, the podcast where we examine the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. I am Angela McDow the Swifty.

And I am Dr. Jerry Coates, the scholar. Hello. Hello, Angela. Uncle Dr. Jerry Coates. I'm so excited to talk about this one. Yes. This is pulling straight from your favorite city. It is true.

I have to assume. Absolutely. I love London. You know what Dr. Johnson said. What? Do you know Dr. Johnson? No. No.

Okay. So Samuel Johnson, 18th century poet, scholar, essayist. He is chronicled in... Uh-oh. We've got it here somewhere. James Boswell's Life of Johnson. That's another thick one. Fourteen hundred pages.

Oh, gosh. According to Boswell, his biographer, Johnson once said, when you're tired of London, you're tired of life. Oh, I have heard that before. Yeah. So I am not tired of life.

Clearly. And as you know, Leslie and I are going to London here a bit, so that would be fun. Yeah, excited. And other destinations in England. Yeah. So I'm excited. Yes.

Okay, so today we are covering, obviously, so Long London. This is another track five. Oh, is it really? Unfortunately, we're going to get all these out of the way quickly because they're my favorites all the time. I feel like we've done most of these. I've been track fives already. This is another Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift track written and produced by both of them. This is from tortured poets.

So we just got this last year. And Swifties are very certain of what this song was inspired by and who this song is inspired by. So we'll get to that. But yeah, let's just jump right in. Let's just do it. I feel like this one might be kind of beefy. I'm seeing a lot of notes over there. Yes, I have a lot of notes.

I've written. So, okay. So first of all, first of all. we start with the intro. Yes. And there are a lot of literary devices in this poem. Yes. We have repetition, so, so long, long, London.

And then in the middle of that, you've got that literary device called assonance. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, right? And I always told students, I love it, you can kiss my assonance. I was such a wide interest. I feel like I feel like I'm getting a taste of it here, but I do feel a little sad that I never got to be in one of your classes. I know, I know. It also has alliteration. Yes.

The else. Yes. And now we come to the big question. The big question we always ask about literature is. Why? Why? Yes. Why use assonance.

Why use alliteration? Okay. So a crappy poet does it because they just like the way it sounds. You know, repetition is something you're supposed to include. A really talented poet uses the sounds to match the sense of the work. Lawrence Perrine, great SMU professor who wrote a book called Sound and Sense. Oh. Said exactly that.

So the O sound so, so long, long London is. an extended sound, kind of a sad sound. The ls are sonorous. They're very, they're like sweet. They extend the sound of the word, right? Okay, yeah. And so I actually wondered if she, I mean, I'm anxious to hear the song. I have not heard the song.

Yes, yes. But I'm anxious to hear it because I'm wondering if it's like replicating the sound of Big Ben. You have to stop with these kinds of things. Come on, it's a poem. I mean, I'm thinking, I'm like thinking, Edgar Allan Poe's, um, the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, the tintanabulation that's a musically swells of the bells. Tintinabulation.

I know that word, tinsenabulation, keeping time, time, time with a sort of ruddy crime. Okay, well, you're in for a treat when you hear this little intro, is all I'll say. Does she have the sound of Big Benry? I'm not going to tell you yet. This is also personification, right? Because London is an inanimate city. And so by addressing London, so long London, she's personifying London as a character in this particular poem.

Yes. So I am, I mean, it may sound simplistic because all you have is one line repeated three times. Nevertheless, I'm already disposed. I've already got a lot. I'm already just supposed to like the poem in on because we have assonance, alliteration, with real meaning. You know, we have personification. You know, we have the extension of sound.

It sounds like a ringing of a bell. And then you read later on and you realize it's foggy. You know, London is famous for its fogs. The River Thames that flows through the middle of London is a tidal river, for those of you don't know. That means that when the tide comes in or out, the river reverses its flow. Oh, I actually didn't know that. That's cool. And so it can bring fog in off the ocean or it mixes warm water with cold water very easily.

That's why London is frequently foggy London time. Gray and rainy. And, you know, when you have a lot of humidity in the air, sounds tend to carry. Mm-hmm. Right. So I love the opening line. Oh, my goodness. So long, long, you know.

This is incredible. Well, it's just like, you can imagine the ringing of the bell and the fog and how it would, the sound would continue to carry across. Yeah, because it kind of holds it in. Right. Yeah. So here I am. I'm only done with the intro.

We've gotten three words so far. I know. This is going to be our first six hours. Okay. Verse one. Yeah, let's do it. Can you, can you, um, follow me? me if I move this fast? I think so. Okay. I think I'm with you. Because wait till the first line

of the first verse. Okay. I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist. Okay. So you know my dissertation and my English PhD is looking at fairy tale origins of the English novel. Uh-huh. And so I see a phrase like fairy lights. Fairy lights, otherwise in Latin known as Ignees, fatus. Okay. Ignes fatis means fire. Fatus means foolish or fake. Okay.

So it's like fake fire. Oh, like festoon. Is that where that? Am I making this up? No, just fascist. No, no. Yes. Fattus.

It's also called friar's lantern. Okay. Right. So like an old friar walking at night with the lantern, you would see the distant light. In Irish folklore, it's bog lights. They imagine, or if you've ever seen the Lord of the Rings, for goodness sakes, no? Those movies are always playing at my house, and I still have not sat down.

Oh, no. My glasses. I still have not sat through the whole thing. So in the second film or in one of the books, they go through the swamp with all these dead people. in this bog and they're still living this half-life and so there's a light that will glow over the body immersed in the bog and so this idea actually is in Irish folklore

and so here's my important question for you today would you go near that light I mean seems like no no would be a good answer if there's dead bodies around and it's it's it's signifying death or something. It seems ominous. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? That's interesting in compare, and like in relation to the rest of this song. In this poem, yes, we have a kind of ominous conclusion, or at least, you know, we... Or a sad one. Yeah, a sad one. Yeah. Also in

Appalachian literature. Okay. So in Appalachian folklore, they're called Willa Whisp. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you never go near the Will of the Whisp, because often they're conjured by witches. Oh. Okay. Oh my goodness. So they're generally taken as a warning. Okay.

Okay. So I got all of that out of fairy lights. We've now gotten through the intro in one line. I know, I know, but it's so fun. I know. I thought this one was jam-packed full of stuff for you. It's highly intentional, you know, and so, I mean, these things don't happen by accident. Yes.

She sees these warning lights, these fairy lights. Um, through a mist. Uh-huh. So the, the mist could be figurative. It could be literal. Okay. In a literal sense, it's misty, right? It's foggy London.

Yeah. But in a figurative sense, um, she might have a clouded mind. Yeah, you can't. She doesn't really know what, what's happening or what's going to happen or. And generally, that's why people walk toward the igneous fatus, the foolish lights, because they're clouded, because they're, um, tricked by some leprechaun or by some which or, you know, depending on which one of these folk tales were reading. Interesting.

Throughout all this, she keeps calm. I know we're moving quickly on the second line. She says, I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift. Okay, you know, so I have to stop and say, really nice poetic use of alliteration. I kept, you hear the hard sea sound, the R2K, calm, carried. So, you know, you got this consistent alliteration, really nice stuff. And then pulled him in tighter each time. He wasn't drifting away.

So tight time, more alliteration. And then in the next line, my spine split more alliteration. Yeah, it's full. Okay. So, yeah, we have three consecutive lines, three different alliterative elements. And, I mean, she's working it as a poet. Yeah. So, you know, her spine split.

she's carrying us up the hill. And I'm wondering why does she have to carry them? So she's obviously walking with him. And up the hill, later on she mentions the heath. And so Hampstead Heath, right? Hampstead Heath is the highest point in, or one of the highest points in London. It's kind of a beautiful rustic park. You know, myself, I like walking through Kensington or Hyde Park.

But Hampstead Heath is beautiful. It has its own charm, but it is the more rustic of those parks. It's the type of place you would see very lights. Okay, interesting. Yeah, so I liked her use of that. I do think that she has a house that was like overlooking Hampstead Heath. Oh, really? Okay. So I think, you know, I think in this instance is where she's using them poetically and also a little bit from the literal.

Autobiographic. I believe so. Okay. I didn't know. Yeah, yeah. But that is good. I mean, you know, I mean, I like the use of Hampstetti poetically in the setting. Yeah.

Because it would be a place in London where you might see something like this. Yeah. You know, in Jam Bear's story of Peter Pan, Peter is supposed to have landed somewhere in Hyde Park in the trees by the long water. Okay. And there's a little statue of Peter Pan there. So tourists, don't mention when you go there. Yeah. Lots of Peter Pan references in Taylor's work as well.

Yes. Well, there are places in London, even though it's a highly packed city where you can find quiet moments and rustic places. Yeah. I want to talk about my spine split from carrying us up the hill. Okay. Is that a, that's a, that's, is that a literary reference? I don't know if it is. Do you know if it is?

I don't know. But isn't there something where somebody has to carry something up, and it's really heavy and they like break their spine. Oh yeah, good for you. What is that? No, it doesn't break his spine. That's Sisyphus. Yes, Sisyphus.

Sisy. Okay, okay. The two titans who are held in Hades. Now, of course, in Greek religion, ancient Greek religion, Hades is not a bad place. Okay. Hades is just a place where dead souls go. Yes.

Right. And so, in fact, there's a very nice place called the Elysianian. in fields in Hades. Okay. So if you've ever seen the movie Gladiator... I've not seen very many movies. I'm not a movie kind of girl. So you know I'm a movie guy.

Yes. In Gladiator, when he has visions of death, should I ruin it for you? No, it's fine. When he dies. Yeah. That doesn't surprise me.

Yeah, these giant iron gates open up and he walks onto a place with an endless field of grain. and olive trees and his family's waiting for him. And that's a really nice description of what the Elysian fields are in ancient literature. Okay. Okay. It's also where you put bad people.

Yeah. So like people can be punished in the Elysian fields, I mean in Aedes as well. So Tantalos and Sisyphus are being punished for revolting against the gods. Sisyphus, his job is to roll a stone up a hill. Okay. Yeah. Right. And the promise is if he can get it all the way up to the top, then they'll set him free.

But as he rolls it, the stone seems to get larger and larger. And then before he can get to the top, he physically fails and it rolls back down. Okay. Okay. I knew it was something. Yeah. I just wasn't sure what. Yeah.

Oh, that's nice. Maybe this is a Sisyphian reference. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's nice. Okay. I remember one seeing there was a hurricane. Oh, when Hurricane Katrina came through, it was such a terrible disaster.

And President Bush and President Clinton got together in a news conference and they started a foundation for relief for the victims. And President Bush spoke first. And he said, it's hard, it's hard that these people are suffering. It's going to be hard to help them. And then Clinton got in, you know, Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, he got in there and said, it's a Sisyphian task. Oh, goodness. Oh, my gosh.

I don't know. So I'm not making a political statement. I'm making an educational statement. So good catch on your part. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. That's why I'm here. Okay.

So, again, there's a lot of moisture in the air. And she's wet through the clothes, and she has weary bones. And I, you know, couldn't help but think of all those songs. There's actually a song called Weary Bones. Oh, My Bones, Bones, My Weary Bones. So there's an old 1920s blues song. They caught a chill. I stopped trying to make him laugh.

Stop trying to drill the safe. Okay, drill the safe, metaphor. You know, it's very difficult to make him laugh. So he's closed like a safe. I don't know if this is a point. about romance is his heart close yeah I think yeah I think for this one I think

she was trying so I think what this is saying is I'm trying so hard to like get to the heart of him get in there either get his real feeling like hear his true feelings also and she's she's having trouble with that because he's got a

locked up like a safe in another song for the I stopped trying to make him laugh part there's a song on focal or called mirror ball and she says that that song is about how I think it's about you know performers basically and she talks about how you know mirror balls are disco balls are like broken into thousands of pieces and that way it reflects so much and that makes them yeah and it makes them beautiful you know and and in that song she talks about um I'm doing everything to keep you laughing at me so I think she was she

talks about this in the she says she wrote mirror ball right after everything got shut down for the pandemic and so she's not she doesn't know who she's going to be because she's not going to be this mirror ball up on the stage she can't perform for people um but I think also a little bit is you know

personal life like I'm gonna I'm trying to get you to see that I'm trying to be everything for you and so that this this whole line like takes me back to some other folklore stuff Yeah.

Okay, we'll have to do that. Yes. I think that's my favorite, one of my two favorites from folklore. So I'm going to say one more thing about the verse. Yes. Not to divert you from your... No, it's fine. We're not here to talk about folklore.

It's got an interesting rhyme scheme. Yes, okay. Mist, Rift. So A, A, you remember the first rhyme sound is A. Next rhyme sound is B and so on. So mist, rift, A, A, B, away. And then Hill, Chill, C, C, and then back to safe away, right? They have the same ball suit.

Yeah, so back to B. So it's AAB, C, C, B. Interesting. Yeah, nice. So, I mean, poetically, I'm impressed with the work. It's got alliteration, asinons, personification, metaphor, rhyme scheme. and allusion to folklore. Yeah, elements.

That's it. I'm ready to stop. Nope, you're not allowed. Okay. The chorus? Yes, let's go for it. The chorus, I'm thinking, how much sad did you think I had internal rhyme?

Did you think I had in me? So, you know, again, we're echoing that sound of rhyme. We're keeping that kind of echo motif. Nice stuff. Lots of internal rhyme. Oh, the tragedy. It's a little melodramatic. Oh.

Yeah. But then we go back to So Long, London. So we're back to that accident's alliteration, extension of sound. You'll find someone. Yes. Okay, so let us pause and note the use of the second person pronoun, you. Because later on, she's going to shift that. Okay.

Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Do you have more about the Kerk chorus? I want to talk about how much sad did you think I had. Okay. So, another of Taylor's songs that I think is about this same situation was a, is not on any album. I think she, like, technically said it's on midnight's,

but it came out like a random day. It's like a vault track, basically, and it's called You're Losing Me. and there's a lot of parallels between these two songs. You're losing me and So Long London. And in that song, she says, how long can we be a sad song? And we also know that the person that we assume this song is about in this relationship, I make no a song.

They wrote, so remember we've talked a little bit about William Bowery. which is a pen name, a pseudonym. They wrote a bunch of sad songs together. Oh, okay. And so we've talked about, I think, champagne problems. I can't even remember the other ones at this moment. But they wrote sad songs together. And so I think she was taking that, like, you know,

we're always doing these sad things, making this sad art together. But, like, I actually am sad. Yeah, here we are again. but really. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think there's just a lot of fun parallels.

Well, maybe they're not that fun. But they're fun for me now. But a lot of parallels between those two songs. And I think that how much sad did you think I had is like also talking about how they wrote these sad songs together. And then they turned it into a sad song. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of interesting. It's autobiographical analysis.

Yeah. Yeah, which you don't like. Well, I mean, I talk about Dickens all the time from his life to his work, so why not. Why not Taylor Swift? I should point out the rhyme. You know, there is, again, this interlocking rhyme, me, tragedy, London, someone. So we have that rhymed couplets, you know, which, again, it's nice work. Again, I'm not having heard the song, I'm anxious to hear.

How does she use the rhyme when she sings? Okay, verse two Yep Oh, so quickly Okay, so you hold the work Sometimes I tell students One of the best things to do Rather than reading the work

Is to read it word by word backward Oh, okay Because when you read backward You're focusing on the diction What words does the poet use Another thing I suggest is holding it at arm's length And just like holding it out here And saying, okay, what

Interesting. What words And you see how each of the first four lines of verse to begin with the word. Aye. Okay. So, you know, normally I would say,

well, she's really self-focused. But then you see what she's doing in the verse. I didn't opt in to be your odd man out. I founded the club. She's heard great things about, I left all I knew. You left me. Yeah.

I stopped the CPR trying to keep our love relationships. going. So, you know, who's working at this relationship? Yeah. That's going to be me, Buster. Yeah, that's her. It's just I. Yeah.

Right. She's splitting her spine. Well, that's hard to say. Splitting her spine over it. She is. She's the one carrying him up the hill. Yeah. She's the one who is trudging in her wet clothes through this mist.

She should have noticed the fairy lights. Yeah. Yeah. Run. So I am going to say the first couple of times I read the poem I didn't really pay a lot of attention to the phrase odd man out. Okay. You know, it's just, it's a cliche, you know, kind of idiomatic phrase. But I'm telling you, when I got to the end the second time, I thought, wait a minute.

Um, she's got two graves. She's got one gun. It's set in the UK. It's at night. Um, and so, yes, this is the moment when you can call me crazy. But, um, I am a movie official. Yes. I do.

I collect movie posters. Yeah. Uh, my colleagues at school will remember my office had more than a hundred different movie posters. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, I collect lobby cards. Um, my gosh. I collect one sheets, which are the large 27-inch wide things.

I collect insert sheets. They're 14 by 36 inches. I even collect lobby photos that are 8 by 10s. And I actually have collected popcorn bags with movie advertisements press stuff. Fun. Yeah, so I collect a lot of crap. So there's a 1947 film, Odd Man Out, that's extremely famous. It is considered to be one of England's,

greatest film noir. Okay. Which is a film at night, you know, film in darkness. Carol Reed was the director, amazing director, who also directed the movie, the third man.

I mean, any movie person will tell you. The third man with Orson Wells. Oh, okay. That's a great film. One of the reasons why I like Odd Man Out is because it stars James Mason. Okay. So I'm a huge James Mason fan. I also

love his work in the movie Lolita, which was directed by, what, Sydney Pollock. Okay. Sidney Pollack, you know, brilliant. And Lolita is just a haunting film of obsession. For sure, yeah. James Mason does a terrific job. He's been in some bad movies. He's been in Journey to the Center of the Earth with Pat Boone.

Ouch. But he's a brilliant British actor, and, you know, all kinds of people. have cited this as their favorite British film. Okay. It won the British Academy Award that year in 47. Are you saying that the line later on, two graves,

one gun relates to that movie? Yes. Okay, because I've always had trouble with that line. Yeah. We'll get to that. Watch the movie. Yeah, okay, I have something to say about this movie, too. Oh, do you really?

So the Swifties figured this out. I'm not one of those because I know nothing about movies. Here's to you, Smiley's. Mark Swifties. There you go. Someone watches old movies. Yeah. Couldn't be me.

So, and I thought they were a little crazy, but now that you're, now that I've dug a little deeper into this, I'm about to read you something, but now that you pulled this, you brought this up. Now I think they're not crazy. But, okay, Odd Man Out, very likely references the name of a British noir film from the 1940s. Who's saying this? This is from Genius, which is like a website that posts lyrics.

They have all the official lyrics and they have a lot of theories and stuff. William Alwyn composed the music for the film. Okay. Didn't know that. William Alwyn was the great-grandfather of actor Joe Alwyn, who then ended up going by the pseudonym William Bowery. Sorry. Oh, really?

You know what I'm saying. Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend. who this song is about, it says. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Joe has said his pen name when he co-wrote songs with Swift was William Bowery in honor of his great-grandfather. Wow. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. So there you go. Okay. So I don't feel quite so crazy because when I first thought of that, I thought, no, that's, I mean, I've just got to be crazy about that. Yeah. I thought so, too, when the other Swifties that are smarter than me were bringing that up. But apparently not. Okay.

Yeah. I feel validated. Yeah. Thank you. And that's the end of today's session. Because Uncle Jerry is validated. Yeah. Do you have a ticket?

Can I punch my ticket? No, but that's fun though, actually. Yeah, I like that. Okay, good. Good. Good. I'm glad. Yeah.

Not that I was worried about it. Yeah. But yeah, Kathleen. So it's a movie about Johnny McQueen. So they go into a robbery. And there are three of them, and the other guy's escape. I mean, they literally abandon him. And so he is the odd man.

Oh, okay. Right, hence the title. And, I mean, he, like, wanders over the, he gets wounded. So he has stitches. Okay. Okay. So he gets wounded. He's hiding.

He has to recover. His girlfriend, Kathleen, is trying to help him. You know, she's, gosh, I can't remember the actor's name who plays her. She's really wonderful, too. Is that why you named her daughter, Kathleen? No. Okay. Like this is your best favorite film and we just found a really weird connection?

It really is one of my favorite films. Okay, good. Yeah, so when I saw Aud Man out the first time, I kind of chucked on and thought, oh, that's that film. And then I kept reading and then I went back through it. I went, wait a minute. Okay, yeah. See, this is why we're here because I never, yeah. Yeah.

We'll get us go. Okay. I'm going to jump right to the next course. Okay, I actually want to talk about a founded the club she's heard great things about. Oh, yes, yes. Okay, go ahead. You talk. So, if we go back to Joe Alwyn, the actor, nobody knew who he was.

Oh, okay. He was, like, just starting his career. And so when Taylor started dating him, all of a sudden we knew who he was. He was, you know, getting press written about him. That's all I have to do is date Taylor Swift. It's all you have to do. Everyone will know who I am. All you have to do.

Wow. Easy. Okay. And so I just love, like, how snarky this line is, because I don't feel like she does that too often. But I feel like she's saying here, like, this new girl who is excited about you or who wants to date you, like, the only reason she wants to date you is because I dated you first. He is. Taylor Swift X. Yeah.

You know, that could be a pretty large club, my understanding. But I wouldn't mind Taylor. If you're listening, I don't tell Leslie. Yeah, I like the last line of that verse, too. Yes, that also is a little bit angry. Yeah, just a little. I mean, very, very angry. And I'm pissed off you'll let him give you all that youth for free.

Yeah, yeah. So she was in this relationship for six years. Oh, wow, okay. And I think they got together when she was like 26 or 27 or something. And so those are like your prime years, you know, and she, I, there's lyrics clearly in this song and others, like she was waiting for him to want to marry her. And he just wouldn't commit in that way. And so I'm pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free, like zinger. So if that's the prime years, then you and I are both past our primes.

Oh, dang. Yeah, I thought that that confirmed an angry tone. Yeah. So, you know, again, we could talk about the rhyme scheme, out about. Heath used to free. Oh, yeah, it's the same rhyme scheme as before as a verse first verse. Yeah, that's nice. And then she goes to the chorus, song London, but this time stitches are undone.

So that's a metaphor. The things that bound together their relationship are now undone. But then I'm thinking, wait a minute. Bonnie McQueen was wounded. The Stitches Undone confused me for a while. And I do think there's probably something there about Odd Man Out. But she also has another song on Midnights where it's called Glitch. And she says it's about how, you know, this relationship, it was just supposed to be like a fun, not serious thing.

And then she says, but five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch. And so she, like, fell hard for this guy. And now six years later, seven years later, whatever it is, the stitches are undone. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, that's why it's a metaphor, right? They're not literal stitches. They are figuratively. Yeah.

Yeah. And then we have two graze, one gun. And then she says, I'll find someone. So now we've changed from the, the, The second person brought on, you'll find someone. That's it, dude. Yeah. I'm finding someone.

Yeah. So we're moved to the first person. Two graves, one gun. So, you know, we have a metaphor, the end of their relationship. Whoever they were before, both of them are now dead and buried. And all it took was one gun, you know, one bad moment, one shot. That's within the context of the song. Uh-huh.

In the context of the movie. Yes, yes, please. It's the end of the film. Oh, okay. Yeah, at the end of the film and maybe, gosh, I don't want to ruin it. We want to watch out. This is a hundred-year-old movie. Yeah, but it's, I mean, it's worth a watch, right?

I mean, people say that about, I don't want to ruin it for you. But, I mean, for goodness, you do know Romeo and Juliet die. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know the endings of these things. But the beauty of it cannot be denied, right? The beauty of the language, the beauty of the moment. I mean... It's not about the ending so much. It's not.

I mean, Leslie and I saw it with a group of faculty a few years ago at the Globe in London. Amazing. Oh, my gosh. When they die, they're such good actors. And I mean, I had English teachers weeping. And none of this was a surprise. This is not a surprise, but it's the cathartic moment of that emotional power does not escape us. At the end, Johnny and Kathleen die, people.

And they're being chased through the streets, and they're trying to get to a boat to escape. Oh, is there a boat in this? Is there? I don't know. We should take, oh, look at the next one. Oh, my gosh, there is. The line of the bridge. Wait, so are they killed by the same gun?

Well, yeah. So she realizes they're being surrounded by police, and there is no escape. And so, you know, he's willing, like, turn himself in. I mean, he obviously, when they're escaping from the bank robbery, he shot a police officer. So he deserves to die. She does not. Nevertheless, she's not ready to abandon him. And she fires at the police officer knowing that they will return fire and kill them.

Oh. And so she fires two shots from her gun. Okay. And they gun them down. Interesting. Two graves, one gun. Okay, so her one gun is the reason that they both died. Right.

In the movie. Yeah. Interesting. So it's fun, yeah. And so where are they heading? They're heading to a boat to escape. You know, something I didn't say, by the way, is the movie's not set in London. It's actually set in Ireland.

Oh, okay. It's based on a book. I've not read the book, but it's about the IRA. Okay. And the movie completely removes the politics and just deals with the acts and the people. Interesting. Okay. So they're heading towards a ship.

Well, in the bridge, she says, and you say I abandon the ship. But I was going down with it. My white-knuckled dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment. So we have lots of literary devices. Yeah. You know, we have more assonance. We have really nice metaphor of the ship, which is their relationship. It's going down and she's still holding on.

She's holding on for dear life. But she's not holding on to him. She's holding on to his quiet resentment, which is personification. You can't hold onto an emotion. It's an inanimate thing or object. And then you look at the rhymes game, ship, it, grip, resentment, scared. affair, air, there. You know, so you have this really nice interlocky rhyme scheme with the two quatrains, those two four-line groups.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, overall, guys, this nice poetry. My friend said it wasn't right to be scared. Every day of a love affair, every breath feels like rarest air when you're not sure if he wants to be there. So rare air, you know, difficult to breathe. Any rare gas you can't breathe It would suffocate you

Okay So That's also irony Because it's ironic to say she's breathing air But it's so rare It's so devoid of oxygen Okay Yeah

That you're going to die if you persist Interesting You're a co-house I mean It's a bridge I just I don't I just I love all of the imagery in it Yeah, I do too. I think it's fine. I think it's well written. So back to the chorus.

Yes. So how much sad did you think I had? Do you think I had in me? How much tragedy? Just how low? And now this is the change. Do you think I'd go before I self-implode before I'd have to go be free? So, you know, how much do you think I'd have to give before I would just completely break down? Yeah. Is it a wonder I broke? Yeah, because she was so challenged. Yeah. So, yeah.

Verse three gives us more about the movie. You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? Well, the movie's kind of a detective story. It's a film. Okay, okay, yeah. There are clues. Yeah. And I died on the altar waiting for the proof.

Okay, so on the altar is, has multiple, meanings, right? Lexical ambiguity. You remember the term from another episode. You know, so the altar could be a wedding. She's waiting to get married. It never happens. The altar could be a symbol of sacrifice, you know, like Abraham and Isaac. So I sacrificed myself on that altar. And then there's the movie. Okay. Another altar. Guess who Kathleen and Johnny go to for help when they're trying to escape. Like a preacher? A priest.

A priest. Yes, they go to the Catholic priest to try to escape. Yeah. Oh my goodness. So, yeah. This unlocking so much stuff here. I'm telling you, when I started thinking about the odd man out. Yeah. I kept thinking. There's more

and more and more. It just felt like a tumult of things. I thought either I'm crazy or this was really a reference to this movie. Yeah. Yeah. So I died on the altar, wait in for the proof. That I think is there's more parallels here to you're losing me in that song. Probably to that point, the most shocking thing I've ever heard in a song that she said.

I still think about the first time I heard this song. She says, and I wouldn't marry me either. Oh, really? Wow. A pathological people pleaser who only wanted you to see her. So she's like, yeah, I understand. And right before that, she says, like, like don't ignore me.

I'm the best thing at this party. So she's like, I know I'm great. But then in the directly after that, she's like, but I wouldn't marry me either. And so she clearly, it feels very clear in these like few songs that we have about this situation that like she was ready to get married. She wanted to be with him forever and he just wouldn't. And we get a little bit more in the second half of this verse. this verse, you sacrificed us, sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days. So I've talked a lot on this podcast about how Taylor uses color.

And blue is a color that comes up so often in songs assumed to be about Joe Alwyn. Oh, really? Okay. Oh, yeah, you've mentioned that before. Yes, there's like a lot of blue. And some of it's about his blue eyes. And then later on it changes to blue. as in depression, sadness, mental health issues. And so it's almost like she's romanticizing the blue in the beginning.

And then as the relationship goes on, it gets less romantic. She gets less romantic about him, about their relationship. And yeah, so I just love that. Like you sacrificed us. Like you wouldn't let us move forward because you're dealing with some mental health things that you're not actually dealing with type thing. Yeah, I wrote a note about the bluest days. Okay.

I mean, it's just what you said. Yeah. Blue color imagery, generally sad. So somehow when she sees, you know, we think of someone with blue eyes, they're beautiful. But, you know, here, they're the bluest days. So there's a level of sadness. You know, I also, I have to admit, I thought about the bluest eye, Tony Morrison's novel. Yes, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Tony Morrison. Nobel Prize. winner in literature. Banned from many school libraries. Yes. Thank you very much.

Yes. Yeah, we shouldn't be reading Nobel Prize winning awards. We might indoctrinate some people. I know. Little Miss Breed Love, the main character in the bluest eyes, she wants blue eyes, you know, because she thinks that that's the epitome of beauty. Essentially, it's denying yourself, denying your race. Yeah.

You know, and I mean, it's a very sensitive. but very telling image of life that Tony Morrison always brings us. Yeah. I wonder just because I was, you know, reminded of bluest eye, but I don't think it works in the poem. Yeah, yeah. But go read Tony Morrison, blueest eye. Oprah says to.

And we always listen to her. Absolutely. You know, she does make some good recommendations sometimes. Yeah. Not going to depreciate it. Yeah. So, yeah, she's just getting the color back into her face. So she's returning to, you know, assumably, I don't know, pink or something.

Yeah. And I have another lyric parallel from You're Losing Me in this line. It's like these are like the same song, but different. So I'm just getting color back into my face. And you're losing me. She says, my face was gray, but you wouldn't admit that we were sick. So she's like staying. in this relationship and it's making her sicker and sicker.

And that's what you're losing me is all about. It feels like a, like a, you know, a person's in the hospital and like we're losing her, you know. Saline gray is the color of. Yeah, when you're, yeah. Traditionally, even in Renaissance painting, a dead person's painted as gray. Lazarus has always painted as gray. Yeah. And so now that she's like, she's decided I'm leaving so long London, like I'll see you later.

She's finally getting that color back into her face. Right. Right. Yeah. So that's, we go to the chorus, and she says, So Long London. And we had a good run. Again, odd man out. You know, poor Mr. McQueen, he's been running. He's been abandoned.

He's been running. Okay, yeah. Right. And she's looking for that moment of warm sun so that the color can come back into her face. But I'm not the one. So long, London. Stitches on down. Two graves.

one gun, you'll find someone. So I want to talk about how, okay, so if we go back up, she changes the meaning of so long London in this song. Okay, yeah. So she says, I gave you all that youth for free for so long London. So she was so long in this relationship. Yes. Oh, I like that. That's good.

Yeah, so she's, I think some of, half the time, she's saying so long as in goodbye. And half of the time, she's saying this lasted for so long and I fought for so long. And yeah, so if we keep going down, at the end of verse three, she says, I'm just mad as hell because I loved this place for so long London. Yeah, you know, I got the connection between I love this place for so long, but I did not think about it in terms of the length of the relationship. That's a good cat. Wow, Angela. Two for two today. I do like this one a lot.

I've spent a lot of time with this one. Also, in that last chorus, a moment of warm sun. So obviously we have this misty, foggy London. And so she's needing a moment of warm sun. But also, if we go back to that album, you just picked up there, the closing track on Lover is a song called Daylight. And that song is all about how she thought. love would be

you know red which she has an earlier album called red and she thought love was this red burning thing but actually it's like daylight it's actually like warm sun golden on your face so I always pull that in there too

for that moment of warm sun good that's great yeah that's cool this has a lot for me to pull from previous Taylor learning a lot beyond just the poetic son of it's nice yeah Yeah, that's kind of all I have.

What else do you got here? You know, that's about it for me. I'm anxious to hear the song. I know. I'm excited for you to hear this one. By the way, people have been saying they want to see my expression when we're hearing the song. Yeah. So we can't do that for copyright and payment reasons.

Yes. So, Angela, I may be fixing that. I don't know. Yeah. Like I say, she's in charge. We're working on it. And usually when I'm listening to the music, I'm dancing around the room. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm not sure, like, all the people that are asking for your reactions, like, I feel like they think you're like, yeah, like getting really excited about it. And you do, like, you jaw down, you start jotting down notes. I know when you've heard something because you start jotting down notes and stuff. But I promise you all are getting all the thoughts. But, you know, we'll work on that. I do. Yeah, most of the time when I hear the song, I like to have my pen going, oh, the phrasing here was different than I imagine. Or she's going against the rhythmic power of the line.

but it is. She's falling right into the syshire here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I'm like marking the poetics as she is singing. I love to hear poets recite their poets. For sure, yeah. Right, because I get to hear the tone they would, you know, impose on the pole. Yeah, totally different experience.

It is. Yeah. Okay. So I want to hear the song. Okay, we're going to listen to the... Is it like that band? We'll see. We're going to listen to the lyric video, which is the album version.

And then I do have an Eros tour performance where the song. was a surprise song. Okay. So obviously on the last night of her London shows. Oh, really? Yeah. Very clever, Taylor. Yes.

So we'll watch both of those and then we'll come back with thoughts on all of it, I think. Okay. Okay. We'll be back. It's a ringing in balls. That's so great. We should be filming this. I know.

We are. We are. We'll figure it out. Okay. We're back. Oh, boy. It's good to be right. That was probably the first time you've gotten really excited about the beginning of a song.

Yeah, I wish that we had been filming my reaction because of it, yes, bells! We've got that. We've got that. We'll put that on Patreon once we make one of those. Yes, I do have to admit that I loved the opening, you know, so, so long, long, London, you know, because it's like this cascade, this claxon of bells. coming down. Yeah, it's nicely done.

Even the chorus where she separates out so long, long, long, done, it's the dinging, the tinta nabulation that so rhythmically swells. Yes. The quote poe. Yeah, so I'm glad I caught it. Yes. Sounds like bells. You're two for two on guessing things before when I didn't think you would.

Okay, thanks very much. She has such faith in me. I know. I don't know why I'm surprised, but. I will say that I didn't talk a lot about the rhythmic poetics in the poem. It's kind of complicated and my students hated it. Oh, okay. And we talked about this in another episode a little bit where I'ms and trokeys.

Yeah, yeah, right? So when you skis. When you scan a poem, when you look at the rhythmic elements of it, you know, poets will play with rhythms, right? So even, you know, Shakespeare's plays are all written in iambic pentam. So they're iambic, so they go bapam. So the second syllable is stressed. Bapam, the fourth syllable, bapah. So it's 10 syllables long and all the even-numbered syllables are stressed.

So think, well, we mentioned Romeo and Juliet. But soft, but soft what light from yonder window breaks. Mm-hmm. Right? So you got 10 syllables in the line. All the even number of syllables are stressed. Okay. So here she's using IAMs and anapest.

Okay. What's an anapest? An anapest is two unstressed syllables and a stress syllable. Okay. Bap-pam. Okay. Bap-bam. So you stress the third syllable.

So, for example, in verse one, she starts out with an iambic foot. I saw. So you stress, saw. But then I saw, in my mind, fairy lights through the midst. Oh, yeah. Okay. So it's ba-p-p-pah, ba-pah, ba-pah, ba-pah. You know, and so, I don't know.

I just, I went through looking at it, and you say that I abandoned the ship, right? Interesting. I can see why students might not like that. That seems hard to pick up on. Yeah, it's really, it's, and sometimes it's subjective. Like she, the way she's saying it was, I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist. But she, so both syllables for fairy, fairy lights are sort of unstressed, but that can't happen. Because anytime you have two-syllable word like fairy, you have to stress one of the two syllables.

That's a rule in English rhythm. Okay. Okay. So anytime you have a two-syllable word, one of the syllables is stressed more than the other. Okay. So Ferry. Well, you stress Ferry. You don't say Feree.

Right, right, right. Like think of my name, Jerry. Uh-huh. You don't say Jeree. Yeah. We could if you wanted us too. Yeah. Not every language has the same element of that blakes.

For example, French, in English, two-syllable words are almost always trochic. Jerry, you stress the first syllable. But in French, you're almost always the last album. So in English, Henry, in French, Henri. Yeah, okay, okay, interesting. In English, Louis, in French, Louis. Okay. Right, so not every language has the same poetics.

Okay. You know, that's why when someone says, oh, that Indian person talks funny, they're not talking for your humor, people. Their language has a different rhythm. Right. The words have a different rhythm. And so their poetics have a different rhythmic power. Okay, makes sense.

Yeah. So what's also curious to me is antipests are usually used in comical poems. Oh. Because they're kind of silly sounding. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You know, on a hill by a tree, sat a hen with her jake. Yeah, you know, I mean, they're just sort of light. Yeah, they're happier.

This is not all that happy. No. Right. And so I think she's turned to the anapest to use in this, in this dark and misty way. Interesting. Or does that mean more where she's like, actually, I know I'm getting too deep, but like I know that me leaving is a good happy thing because I've been unhappy for so long. And I know I'm going to be happier at the end of this. It could be. The conclusion is a happy thing. I don't know. I like it. And I'm pissed. Off you let me give you all that youth. Yeah.

And I'm pissed. Yeah. That's like a juxtaposition. Yeah. It's like, oh, it's an pesting, but she's pissed. Yeah, interesting. Yeah. So.

I might call that an epist. What was it? Oh, no. I tried to make a pun, but I forgot what the real word was. Well, that's okay. We can't all. We can't all be winners. Okay.

So I need to say one thing else about her poetics. Yes. chorus she says so long long done so that every syllable is stressed um that's called a spondy so a spondy is a is two stressed syllables back to back okay right so she essentially does two spondies and then stitches undone you know it should be stitches undone it should be a troche with an i am but now she says it like a spondi so why do we have spondi so why do we have spondon spondee is for emphasis. Okay.

Spondy is often like a funeral dirge, serious, you know, emphatic. Interesting. Okay. So, you know, her spondaeic rhythm here is kind of perfect for the closing voice. Yeah, it sure is. Yeah. So I like the poetics. And, you know, like I say, it's kind of complicated.

So I thought, well, I'm not really going to mention it. But then the whole song is built around it. Uh-huh. Yeah. Dang. That's kind of fun. It's big stuff. Yeah.

Um, did you have thoughts on the live performance? That's the first time she ever played that show. Actually, first and last, I think, song that she ever, time she ever played that song live. It was fun. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah. I'm still stunned by the crowds. I know.

And you pointed out that she got a word wrong. Yeah, that's interesting. What? She doesn't even know her own lyrics. I mean, it didn't change the meaning of the song, but I caught it. Yeah. Yeah, she said, um, I left all, I, knew you left me in the house by the heath.

In instead of at. Taylor, Gotcha. In the house by the heath. You know, prepositional phrases are most often antipestic. Oh. Yeah, because the preposition is not accented.

The noun identifier, the is not accented, but then the noun object of the preposition is accented. Totally. Totally. Important hack for those of you who are interested in doing this yourself. Yeah, that's interesting. Repositional phrases are almost always anapestic.

Wow. I'm so, I'm like, she said in the, in the, we all know now that we have new music coming and she said in her two hour long podcast that her goal with the tortured poets department is like an opposite goal of the new album coming. And she said her goal here was very lyrical, very poetic. That's what she was trying to do and just get all these words out. And I feel like what we're seeing in this one is that she very much did that. Oh, yeah.

Gosh, yes. Yeah, we've got interlocking rhyme, internal rhyme, assonance, alliteration, metaphor, use of cliché or idiom, and rhythmic power. I mean, spondies, anapest with the occasional I am. Yeah. Yeah, poetically. And then you got that poetic ringing of the bells, use of personification, allusion to the fairy lights. Yeah, which I never knew what that was, what that,

what she was pulling from there. And maybe even an allusion to the movie Odd Man Out. Yeah. Kids, if you're counting the number of literary devices. Chalk full. That's a lot, yes. Okay, you want a grader? Sure.

Or do you have something else? No, no, I'm ready. All right, let's do it. Okay. So we have our five categories. Let's start with lyrical strength. Oh, gosh. 98.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. I love the way she uses anapest. I think that's really interesting. Yeah. So, and again, students have a hard time when you start talking about rhythmic. elements because they are sometimes hard to discern.

They're difficult because of the pronunciation. But, but yeah, clearly when you listen to her saying, you feel the antipest. Yeah, that comes, it comes much clearer to the untrained ears that most of us have. Okay. Narrative and structure. You know, I need to talk with her because I really want to know, you know, am I just crazy that this is about the movie Odd Man Out? But you say some other Swifty's as Fiddlers, too.

Yeah. I don't think you're crazy. Okay. Yeah, there are just so many elements. There's too many connections. Yeah, the whole fleeing from the law, the whole he's been wounded. And why would you not want to watch a movie with James Mason? Brilliant.

And Carol Reed, the director, is just a stunning work. Yeah, after you watch this one, go watch the third man. It's a brilliant, brilliant movie. Okay. Narrative and structure. Strait of, oh, golly, 96. Oh, my goodness. She's a star.

Production and Atmospheric. Oh, I liked it. I liked the bells. I feel like the bells just did it for you. You didn't even need the rest of it. Yeah, no, and I felt the mistiness, you know, blowing in. So, 96 again, why not? Okay.

Lur and Literary References. Oh, gosh. if she's actually using the movie Augman Out and I think she needs to tell me I'm still Taylor leave a comment down below We really need to know Yeah Jerry needs to know

But I love the reference to the city lights I mean to the fairy lights And I love being in London I love that atmosphere For sure yeah So 98 Oh my gosh Okay

Oh, I'm not even typing. Okay. And then emotional impact. You know, okay, so this is the place where the emotion I felt most about the third time through or fourth or fifth time was joy. I mean, I'm kind of with you because I, I mean, I feel this way about all the sad songs in general. Like I get great enjoyment of listening to them. and seeing this world that she's creating in these, like in my mind. And so I'm with you.

I don't know that that's what she hopes for it. But yeah, I'm with you. I love, I mean, I like a good poem. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, this is a good poem. You know, I loved the bells again. I thought of Edgar Allan Poe's poem, The Bells. I loved the fairy lights.

I thought about all the lore that goes behind the Appalachian stories, the Irish folklore. So I really, like I said, I just felt joy. Did I feel sad over a breakup? I mean, that's what we, that's what art is for, though, right? Like. Right. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I understand that it's a powerful poem about sadness,

especially when you get down to the line, two graves, one done. Yeah. Yeah, I shouldn't be feeling joy there, people. It's a perverse kind of joy. I guess I'll say 92. Okay. That gives us a 96. Okay.

Good job. It's pretty good. It's really good. Yeah. Yes, I liked this. I had a lot of fun going through and finding all the devices. Yeah. I'm sure I miss some, but yeah, I mean.

And then just the link to the movie and, I thought it was fun. Okay. Exciting. It's fun stuff. All right. That is it. Is that all?

You got any final thoughts? That's all I got. All right. Yeah. Let's get out of here. Yeah. Okay. So we will be back next week.

Make sure you're subscribed everywhere, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify. We're loving all of your comments so far. The conversation has been very fun. It has been fun. Angela's been sharing some with me on other media. Yes. Yes. So please keep that coming.

You can stay up to date on Instagram and TikTok at Swifty and Scholar Pod. And you can find me on Instagram, I, Angela Wyatt, and you can find Uncle Jerry wandering around London. That's true. Any day now. Wandering around London. Okay. We will see y'all next week for another song. Bye.

So long. So long.