Name: Babaran, Pamela R.

Yr. and Section: 11- St. Alfonso of Orozco

English 1

Literary Criticism Worksheet

A. Directions: In your own words, define the given literary lenses.
Literary Lenses Definition (5 pts each)
1. Historical
Historical criticism, is a literary critique based on historical
evidence or the context in which a work was created, including
details about the author's biography as well as historical and
social circumstances during that period A historical critic
considers how events in the author's life inspired the work as
well as how the time period influenced the work's creation.
Based on the subject, a work of historical criticism proposes a
thesis about the author or time period. Thus, historical criticism
examines texts in the same manner that historians examine
historical documents: to discover what they disclose about the
historical and socio-cultural contexts in which they were
created.

2. Marxist
Marxist critique contextualizes a literary work from within the
perspective of class and social assumptions. Marxist is an
explanation of human events and creations that focuses on
interactions between socioeconomic classes, both inside and
across civilizations, and it explains all human activities in terms
of economic power distribution and dynamics.

3. Reader Response Reader-Response focuses on the reader's individual reaction

and interpretation of a text, since it is believed that only the
reader can provide sufficient meaning to a text. Depending on
their intelligence or knowledge of the history described in the
text, mood, personal experiences, ideology, and culture, each
reader will perceive a text differently between reader. It focuses
on the reader's interpretation, and ignores the actual meaning of
the text, implying that the reader may misinterpret the text, and
if the reader is aware of the author's interpretation, the reader
may not believe it, find fault with it, or completely disregard it.
 4. Feminist Feminist literary emphasizes that stereotypes and other cultural
preconceptions are both reflected and shaped by writing.
Feminist literary criticism investigates how works of literature
represent or undermine patriarchal beliefs, often both within the
same work.

5. Moralist Moral criticism is a sort of literary criticism that assesses the

worth of writing based on moral and ethical precepts. The
substance and ideals are fundamental to the moral/intellectual
critical approach. The technique is as ancient as literature itself
since literature has always been used to teach morals,
philosophy, and religion.

6. Structuralist
The structure of analytical criticism examines patterns,
narratives, or rules of practice to interpret the text. It examines
the substructures that allow meaning to be formed in the culture
from which it is drawn.

B. Directions: Listen to the song “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift. Research
and provide details (5) about the song. You may use bullets or numbers in writing your
research. (3 pts each)

● 'Look What You Made Me Do' is about vengeance and how adversity transformed Taylor
into a wiser, harder, and stronger person. Swift is sticking up for herself and defending
herself, even if it means standing alone against the world. In general, it is about
reinventing yourself and becoming a better version of yourself even in the darkest of time
.
● Taylor Swift's lead track from Reputation, "Look What You Made Me Do," takes a heel
turn. Swift speaks of exacting karma and vengeance on many nameless opponents in the
dark, dance-pop song. Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, and Katy Perry are among the
names she could be addressing.
● Taylor Swift fell out with her former Big Machine label when they sold her master to
music manager Scooter Braun without consulting her. She appears to have got her own
back by re-recording "Look What You Made Me Do".
 ● In the music video, Taylor Swift's bathtub is filled with $10 million worth of Neil Lane
diamonds. The iconic jeweler personally loaned the pop star's gemstones for the shoot.
● Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" music video is one of the most costly in
history, with a $12 MILLION budget. It was a cultural revolution. What's a sly dig at
your tabloid adversary worth? $12 million seems right for Taylor Swift.

C. Directions: Read the lyrics and watch the music video. Analyze the material by using
Structural and Historical lenses.

1. Choose lyrics (3) from the song. Analyze and explain it using structural analysis. (10 pts)
But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time
Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time
I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined

I don't trust anybody and nobody trusts me

I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams
I don't trust anybody and nobody trusts me

It's rather depressing to hear Taylor Swift sing, "I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me,"
in the song "Look What You Made Me Do." Taylor has struggled to make friends in the
business since everyone is envious of her confidence. Taylor hasn't worked with many artists
over the years because Katy Perry accused Taylor of stealing her backup dancers and
sabotaging her global tour. And throughout the years, the media has done the most harm to
her reputation by obsessively following her, covering her every action, and criticizing it. It is
reasonable to assume that she has since lost faith in those who are close to her. Taylor Swift
occasionally used drastic means to avoid the media.

This song clearly signals a shift in Taylor Swift's musical direction. She's come a long way from
country to grunge. We only hope that she hasn't been irreparably changed as a person by the
demands from the business and the media. Taylor Swift claims she'll play the lead role in your
nightmares. She claims that she will appear in the nightmares of her foes. When Taylor sings,
"I've got a list of names," she is referring to several of her detractors. Kanye's name is underlined
in red. Given that their ongoing rivalry with Kanye West is their longest-running to date, it
makes sense. And it was from that event that the "snake" hate remarks really started. It is
therefore understandable why Taylor Swift posted a video of a snake biting a snake to represent
the release of "Look What You Made Me Do," which is a bit of a dig at Kanye West.

Taylor Swift sings, "Honey, I came up from the dead, I do it all the time," referring to how she
has been assaulted several times for numerous causes throughout the years and always recovers.
She has been under criticism for her friendships, relationships, music, and appearance her
friendships, relationships, music, and appearance, she has been under criticism. But she has
always remained courageous and prevailed in every circumstance (McDonald, 2017).

2. Screenshot a scene (5) from the music video and explain the meaning behind it. Support
your interpretation by citing sources. (5 pts. Each)

As the show's conclusion approaches, Swift is seen in front of a number of previous Swifts: the
high schooler in the You Belong With Me song video who is in love, the person on the VMA
stage who was accosted by a man wearing a silver flapper outfit Kanye West, the man with the
glasses and the jammies in a white swan costume from the Shake It Off song video. They scratch
her.feet, begging to be revived. Swift 2.0, though, sporting a black T-shirt that reads. Rep
persecutes everyone and pronounces "old Taylor" dead (Gans et al., n.d.).

And with that, the story continues another day as old Swifts expire and a new one is born.
In the following image, Swift is seated on a throne while dozens of snakes crawl at her feet,
which is a blatant giveaway. One even offers her what we can only presume is steaming hot tea,
the same sort served when she leaked audio of Swift, who had previously publicly contested a
lyric in Kanye West's song Famous about her, appearing to approve of the exact words in a phone
discussion with West. Following that, Swift's reputation as a wolf in sheep's clothing gained
momentum, and Kardashian contributed to that perception by tweeting several snake emojis on
worldwide snake day. Swift released cryptic reptile teaser videos prior to the single's release,
suggesting that she is now ready to accept the moniker more than a year later. The snake has now
lost her skin (Nevins, 2017).

Kim Kardashian published her Kanye West and Taylor Swift's snapchats. This "tea time" was
shared by Jenner. Shortly after that, Instagram was usually seen as being a shade to Swift. Swift
here takes a stand of Jenner drinking real tea with her crossed legs wearing the same outfit (and
with Jenner's sleek, ebony hair) (Bailey et al., 2017).

It's commonly known that Swift adores cats. She is surrounded by piles of wealth and a group of
female cats wearing masks and carrying bats that read "Blind for Love." The masked marauders
may be seen looting a music streaming provider in the next scenario. If you recall, Swift forbade
Spotify for years because of how little the company paid her musicians. She also penned an open
letter to Apple Music in 2014 advocating for higher artist royalties. Later, in June 2015, she
criticized Apple's plan to offer consumers three-month free trials on Tumblr. And now she's
returning to rob them, complete with cat images (Nevins, 2017).
She is aware that her romantic history has been remembered in mainstream culture:
Writing songs about love and relationships has helped Swift build a career, no, an empire. a lack
of affection. Therefore, it should not be surprising that she is speaking to her love. life through
this music clip. In a sequence that some viewed as a poorly executed tribute to Swift performs
"Formation" by Beyoncé while surrounded by a line of male dancers. sporting black crop tops
emblazoned with "I [love] T.S." behind her, Tom Hiddleston wore an infamous tank shirt with
the same message while attending one of Swift's well-known Fourth of July parties. The Internet
also cleverly noted that Swift's roster includes eight guys, which, if we're getting really deep,
The Internet also cleverly noted that Swift's roster includes eight guys, which, if we're getting
really deep, possibly be related to the eight prominent ex-boyfriends that Swift had. (Hiddleston,
Conor Kennedy, Calvin Harris, Harry Styles, John Mayer, Jake Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, and
Jake Gyllenhaal) (Nevins, 2017).
Swift's property contains a bird cage that is the size of a human, as you may or may not know.
Swift seems to be saying that she felt stuck within her own identity by intensifying that idea and
pairing it with an orange dress that makes her look like a prisoner.

Remember how many people disparaged her during her and Kanye's feud? Even her friends
frequently turn on her. This is how she felt—trapped in an uncontrollable situation, surrounded
by individuals who would stab her in the back (Roberts, 2017).