And the God's honest truth is that the pain was heaven" This week we're looking at Taylor Swift's lyrics through the lens of God as a literary symbol — the ultimate judge, the absent silent one, and the lover. Maansi brings in "Soon You'll Get Better" (Lover, 2019), Jodi covers "False God" (Lover, 2019), and Jenn digs into "Would've, Could've, Should've" (Midnights, 2022).

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Silence
• Silence (2016, dir. Martin Scorsese)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
• Night, Elie Wiesel
• Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
• Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age, Fiona Maddocks
• The Song of Solomon, The Bible
• The poems of Emily Dickinson
• Female Painters Episode
• Odyssey Episode
• Greek Mythology Episode

Episode Highlights:

• [01:00] God as a literary symbol:
• [13:23] "Soon You'll Get Better"
• [26:46] "False God"
• [37:29] "Would've, Could've, Should've"

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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.