Wednesday Oct 25, 2023

E8: Deep Dive - the lakes

"Take me on vacation, take me to anywhere, take me to the lakes!" After our Show & Tell on Ecocriticism, we’re ready to Deep Dive head-first into “the lakes,” bonus track 17 on “folklore (deluxe version).” Join us as we walk through Taylor Swift’s nature imagery and consider the lyrics in some historical context. We'll also unpack the speaker’s relationship with nature as we consider what the speaker is escaping from, where she is going, and why she is running away. And, we introduce a word of the day (“P-A-L-I-M-P-S-E-S-T”) and pull in references from the dictionary, textbooks, classic novels, and poetry for this one, with hopes of understanding the “waves of hurt” that are packed into this song.

Mentioned in the episode:

Palimpsest: something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface

Town & Country - Emily Doherty 2023

Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf

Victorian Flower Symbolism

Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence

Douglass Livingstone “symbiosis or death”

The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram

***

Episode Highlights:

[01:16] A quick recap of ecocriticism

[03:29] Palimpsest: Heart-stopping waves of hurt

[06:56] The cause of grief: Some name-dropping sleaze

[10:32] Why does she want to escape: Hunters with cell phones

[12:14] Seeking refuge: Not without my muse

[16:59] The speaker and nature: I don’t belong

[21:49] Nod to Romantics: Is it romantic?

[26:17] Final thoughts: What do we think this song is about?

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This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

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