Uncle Jerry brings in Sonnet 43 from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese as a thematic counterpoint to Would've, Could've, Should've. He reads the Browning poem as what the Taylor Swift song's relationship should have been, a love that restored childhood faith and carried beyond death. Instead, Would've, Could've, Should've represents the opposite end of the spectrum: a relationship that destroyed childhood faith rather than restoring it. The Browning poem's references to 'childhood's faith' and 'lost saints' and love carried 'after death' directly parallel the religious imagery in the song.
“I don't belong and, my beloved, neither do you”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify Taylor's use of 'my beloved' as a direct echo of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, specifically Sonnet 20 which addresses 'my beloved.' Uncle Jerry says this is a very 19th century, very Romantic form of address, and that Taylor has adopted the diction of Romanticism.