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crumblinggothicarchitecture · 2 days

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“And the relative simplicity of her music works with people who just want something mindlessly play in the background. It's also really easy for average people- who have no musical background- to sing along with. The lines are simple rhymes, and she never really uses any specialized vocal techniques like Vibrato. Basically, it's music for bland people who think salt is a spice.”

Some of your takes are valid and it’s healthy to critique anything that amasses such a large following in pop culture. However I would argue there is a way to do this without coming across as a pretentious undergraduate who read a few required and recommended readings from the syllabus and now sips their tea with a pinkie protruding. Let’s remember that tumblr is not inherently full of academics and defining anyone who hasn’t got a certain level of education as average or bland is such an Americanised, my way or the highway way of thinking.

It is possible to have differing opinions to others without insulting their intelligence or falsely presenting them in a certain way. Average people as a term in general, is quite elitist and classist. For example, I have a PHD in literature and am a classical musician. I work in publishing and academia.

That said, I still enjoy pop music, sometimes something can just be enjoyable and it’s not that deep.

Criticising Taylor Swift is low hanging fruit for a lit major who claims to be allied with as many causes as yourself. Or, if you do decide to continue with it, I hope you do it in a more articulated manner that focuses more on the quality of your arguments, and not just an assumption that those who oppose you are stupid or “bland” when I suspect the truth is much more complex than that, as it always is.

Best of luck with further studies. I hope to see more diverse content from you in the future, maybe some literary analysis of contemporary texts, or other artists who you deem intellectual enough to enjoy, or some recommendations.

Honestly- I do not know with which tone I should address this anon. I cannot tell if you are being hostile- but I certainly feel that you are being condescending.

Thanks for at least direct quoting my words with which you draw issue. I appreciate it- some people send me critiques but fail to outline which of my posts is the problem.

I can capitulate to exactly one of your points- and admit it is a good point- that I am overly sassy on occasion. The post you are angry about is just me chitchatting with someone about Swift’s live shows- it wasn’t a literary analysis. I cannot do an academic analysis of her live shows- but that does not mean I don’t have an opinion of them.

Again- it was opinion not argument or analysis. Not a serious post. This is not a blog where I am going to speak like an academic all of the time. I’m here to have a little fun- and try to remind myself why I actually do love what I do for a living.

Generally speaking- I will try to make a more obvious, clear difference between what is just an opinion and what is a researched, literary argument on Taylor Swift in my future posting. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

There are some other things about your ask that I want to address, because it struck me as a bit unnecessary.

You say that I’m “coming across as a pretentious undergraduate who read a few required and recommended readings from the syllabus and now sips their tea with a pinkie protruding” (para. 1). This is condescending. No, I did not simply “read a few required and recommended readings” to complete my education. You say you’ve got a PHd in the same discipline- and yet you want to tell me all I did for my degree was read a couple of books? You should know the kind of intellectual work that goes into real literary study. I am trying to show people with this blog, at least in some small way, that while literary study is not so straightforwardly quantifiably valuable like, for instance, physics- it is still a real discipline. With real requirements on argumentation and logic. It takes intellectual skill to wrestle with concepts in literary theory – but more so to apply them in synthesis and interpretation of textual evidence.

SO, why are you essentially patting my head and saying “aw-cute she read some books and now thinks she’s smart?”

To be clear- I am not in undergrad. I have finished two different degrees and am currently working on my third.

Why would you accuse me of classism and elitism predicated solely on a bad joke in a post wherein I am not even doing any real literary analysis? What prompted that? I made no effort to even pretend the post in question was little more than opinion- my real posts however, about literary analysis, I take great pains to research and edit those together with care.

Also, “Americanized” what? Are you American? Because people ‘round here don’t care about what level of education you’ve got? The access to education varies remarkably state to state- and down into Latin American too- and we all know it. So, there is very much a culture of “help each other out when struggling” and not a culture of thinking that everyone of Earth needs to go through American University in order to matter. What are you talking about? Do you think American’s hold the monopoly on having Dogmatic views or “my way or the highway” thinking? That’s obviously not true- so what are you trying to say here?

Did you miss the part of my Bio where I talk about being a teacher? I am a teacher in one of the poorest- most unfunded places in the country. My friend- I am repulsed by the idea of classism- I take my position in my community very seriously. Knowledge is not a stick with which I attempt to beat others down- Please understand that.

Next, you say it is possible to critique without insulting people’s intelligence (para. 2). um, I did not insult anyone’s intelligence? I said their taste in music was bland, which does not correlate to an assumption on their intelligence. Um- I have also said many times that I like simple pop- music. Am I calling myself stupid because I’ve been listening to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter on repeat? NOpe. It’s just a silly little song- and dancing to it makes me feel cute, young and free- but it’s still a bland song with no literary or moral value. What exactly is the problem here?

Okay, within this same point you draw issue with my use of the word average, saying that “average people, as a term...is quite elitist and classist” (para.3). Okay, you misinterpreted my use of the word “average” here- as I was not referring to people as “average” because they have no education, or a different education compared to my own. I was only using the term in the most colloquial sense- meaning “in general” or “on average” as in the median percentage of people have no musical background- therefore they find simplistic pop music the easiest to digest and the simplest thing to play in the background or sing to on car trips. It’s pleasing to the ear because we don’t have too much “work” into understanding it- that's what I mean when I say it’s bland.

If oatmeal was a type of music- it would be pop music. bland filler- but you know it can still be good.

Okay, let’s talk about your final point “Taylor Swift is Low Hanging Fruit” (para. Whatever I can’t be bothered to count). Ummm? A billionaire musician who has massive worldwide acclaim and social impact is “low-hanging” to you? I mean yeah- she's clearly not worth study through the lens of poetical semiotics, or God forbid- Linguistic Morphology; however, there are several different ways a good analysis of her work could function- through feminist, Marxists, Post-colonialist, or anything under the umbrella of cultural studies. I also intend to do a rhetorical analysis on her use of “lower class” aesthetics and how that attracts the audience she wants. And, I’ve done a couple of syntactical analyses. However, I had to prop those up with a dichotomization of her work to someone with more impressive literary value, like Kendrick Lamar, because her work alone is not strong enough for that type of analysis.

Apologies if I have written a return, you did not expect or want- perhaps, I should be less sensitive on the internet. I do often brush off people's condescension, especially when I notice that they are extremely young or just do not know anything at all about my field of study. Because why worry about uninformed opinions? I wanted to speak with you, however, because you do care. It is obvious, and I am glad that people do care. I admire you for caring about the integrity of the discipline- but I really wasn’t doing what you thought I was doing.

I admire anyone who also studies Literature, and you say you’re a classical musician, I think that’s so impressive! I love classical music! Rachmaninoff makes me feel insane! I love it! You know that one O’Hara poem? The one that is an ode to Rachmaninoff’s birthday that ends “you’ll never be mentally sober” because I feel that line in my bones. And don’t even get me started on Tchaikovsky- Truly, you might never hear the end of it. (CAnnoNS!!!!??? what a guy)

I just wanted to clear up anything that you found offensive- but I also defended myself because you do know what I’m talking about when it comes to literary study- and so the conversation took priority over the other meaningless “hate” messages I get. And- boy howdy- I've been getting hate messages pretty much daily.

Promise to no longer be condescending to me and I think we ought to be friends and not fight- let me start- what did you concentrate on for your PHd?

I, myself, focus on post-colonialism, feminist theory, and post-modernist thought in American Literature. I work mainly within US Multi-ethnic literature, though, outside of school, I have an intense fascination with medieval or ancient Literature- primarily, these days, classical Sanskrit poetry. Last year it was an obsession with old Norse literature- lol I like to switch things up. Have you ever read the Heliand? It’s about Viking Jesus- so cool and written in old Saxon! But, anyway, I think the unique prosody of Sanskrit is so neat-o. My other obsession is this one old french poem called "le roman de silence" what a crazy little gender-bending 13th century thing that is (haha). And this doesn't even get into my philosophical preoccupations- though I believe I will discuss those on my blog, too, at some point.

Anyway- perhaps I will talk about my more niche interests on this blog- all good things in time. I have no interest in solely focusing on Taylor Swift forever- but I do want to finish saying all the things I’ve been holding back for years. I think it’s important- because Swift holds such a massive influence over people. It’s healthy, as you said, to critique people like that.

Okay- Sorry I talked soo long. Peace Out :)

#anti taylor swift #ex swiftie #linguistics #literary criticism #literary theory #literary analysis #academia #english lit student

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rainreads · 9 months

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#books and literature #english literature #dark academia literature #dark academia quotes #dark academia #tumblr aesthetic #literature #art aesthetic #books & libraries #booksbooksbooks #book review #english literature quotes #literature quotes #english lit student #light academia style #light academia moodboard #light academia aesthetic #chaotic academia aesthetic #chaotic academia

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literatureaesthetic · 3 months

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at the risk of sounding like an absolute lunatic.....i miss studying books and writing essays on them😭

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amicus-noctis · 7 months

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“Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.”

― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

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heythereitsace · 1 month

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Jekyll & Hyde Chronological Timeline

I don't know if people even need this, but I needed it and it didn't exist. So here it is. In the book the dates are blanked because that was the convention of the time, but I've heard in earlier drafts Robert Louis Stevenson had set the story 1883-1885, so based on that, here is a rough CHRONOLOGICAL timeline of Jekyll & Hyde (rather than the order we discover things in the book)

1833: Jekyll is born.

1840-55(ish): Jekyll's youth. He becomes friends with Lanyon and Utterson at private school. He is a wild youth with unconventional tastes that he keeps secret.

1865(ish): Poole starts working for Jekyll.

1870s: Jekyll begins studying transcendental medicine. He and Lanyon fall out over this and stop talking to one another.

Sometime early-mid 1883: Jekyll discovers the formula to transform himself into Hyde. Jekyll buys a house in Soho for Hyde and writes him into his will. Hyde begins indulging in forbidden desires.

Sometime mid-late 1883: Hyde tramples a young girl. Enfield is a witness. To avoid being attacked, Hyde goes to the laboratory door and draws a cheque in Jekyll's name. The next day Jekyll sets Hyde up his own bank account.

Sometime late 1883 (A Sunday): Enfield tells Utterson about the trampling of the girl as they pass the laboratory door on their regular walk. That night, Utterson dines with Lanyon and learns he is estranged from Jekyll. Lanyon has never heard of Hyde.

Late 1883: Utterson regularly haunts the laboratory door, and eventually meets with Hyde.

Jan 1884: Utterson dines with Jekyll and talks to him about his will, expressing his concerns. Jekyll stops taking notes in his experiment book around this time.

Aug 1884: After a night of adventures as Hyde, Jekyll awakes having involuntarily transformed into Hyde. He sneaks to the lab and takes a dose to transform back into Jekyll. Frightened, he stops taking the potion.

Oct 1884: Jekyll takes the potion again and transforms into Hyde. Hyde meets and murders Sir Danvers Carew. Hyde clears out his Soho home, destroys his papers and cheque book. Jekyll destroys the lab door key.

Oct 1884 (The Next Day, 9am): Utterson identifies Carew's body and goes to Hyde's address with Scotland Yard.

Oct 1884 (Same day, Evening): Utterson visits Jekyll. Jekyll says Hyde will not be returning and show Utterson a note he claims is from Hyde. Utterson asks Poole about the messenger, but Poole claims no letter was delivered.

Oct 1884 (Same day, Night): Utterson dines with his clerk Guest. He shows Guest the note from Hyde. A dinner invitation arrives from Jekyll and Guest compares the two. He notes the handwriting is the same, but slanted in different directions.

Oct 1884-Jan 1885: Jekyll becomes more religious and conscientious. The police hunt for Hyde and uncover some of his wicked deeds in London, but can't find him.

Jan 8, 1885: Jekyll throws a big dinner party for his friends. Utterson and Lanyon are there. It seems as though Lanyon and Jekyll may be mending their friendship.

Jan 8, 1885 (Night): Jekyll indulges his desires, but as Jekyll this time.

Jan 9, 1885 (Daytime): Jekyll daydreams on a bench in Regent's Park and involuntarily transforms into Hyde. He flees to a hotel in Portland Street and writes a letter to Poole and Lanyon to arrange for his chemicals to be brought to Lanyon's house. Poole and Lanyon break into Jekyll's office and Lanyon brings the chemicals to his house.

Jan 9, 1885 (Evening): Hyde travels around in a cab waiting until midnight until the driver gets suspicious. He walks the streets and punches a woman in the face who offers him to buy some matches.

Jan 10, 1885 (Midnight): Hyde arrives at Lanyon's, drinks the potion and transforms into Jekyll in front of him. Jekyll confesses his crimes to Lanyon. Jekyll returns home and falls into a deep sleep.

Jan 10, 1885 (Daytime): Jekyll transforms spontaneously into Hyde walking to his lab. A double dose restores him to Jekyll, but 6 hours later there is another spontaneous transformation into Hyde. From now on, every time Jekyll sleeps or relaxes too much he transforms into Hyde. He needs the potion constantly to stay as Jekyll.

Jan 12, 1885: Utterson calls on Jekyll. He's told the doctor is sick.

Jan 13, 1885: Lanyon writes his testimony of Jekyll's transformation. He seals it up to be opened by Lanyon when Jekyll has died or disappeared.

Jan 14, 1885: Utterson calls on Jekyll. He is denied entry.

Jan 15, 1885: Utterson calls on Jekyll. He is denied entry.

Jan 16, 1885: Utterson dines with Guest.

Jan 17, 1885: Utterson visits Lanyon, and is shocked by his deterioration. Lanyon says he will soon be dead and can't mend his friendship with Jekyll, but won't say why. Utterson writes to Jekyll demanding an explanation.

Jan 18, 1885: Jekyll writes a cryptic and darkly-worded letter to Utterson that does not explain why he and Lanyon have fallen apart. He says he intends to lead a very secluded life going forwards.

Jan 25, 1885: Lanyon is bedridden.

Feb 8, 1885: By this time, Lanyon is dead. The day after the funeral, his sealed testimony is sent to Utterson. He puts it in his safe.

Feb 1885: Utterson keeps calling on Jekyll, but is not admitted. His visits become fewer and fewer.

Feb/Mar 1885 (A Sunday): Enfield and Utterson walk by the laboratory door again, and walk into the courtyard hoping to see Jekyll. They try to talk to Jekyll at the window, but he is seized with terror and slams the window shut.

Feb/Mar 1885: Jekyll's supply of salts is running low. He sends messages to his servants to get more from chemists across London - none can give him salts that work.

Sometime Mar 1885: Trapped in his cabinet, Hyde burns Jekyll's paintings and letters from his father. He defaces Jekyll's religious books with blasphemies. Jekyll keeps trying to make the potion with the new salts that keep arriving, but concludes his original batch must have been impure, and this unknown impurity was what made the transformation possible. The servants hear Jekyll cry out upon the name of God.

Mar 1885 (1-8 days after the cry): Poole hears Hyde weeping like a lost soul in the laboratory. Poole catches sight of a masked Hyde going through packing boxes in the laboratory.

Mar 1885 (8 days after the cry): Jekyll uses the last of the original salts to write his last will, confession, and a note to Utterson. He puts them aside and becomes Hyde, finally and forever.

Mar 1885 (8 days after the cry, 10pm): Poole visits Utterson and asks him to help, saying he thinks there's been foul play. Utterson comes to the house and hears Hyde's voice behind the cabinet door. He listens to Poole's evidence and agrees he thinks Jekyll has been murdered. Utterson confronts Hyde, and he and Poole break down the cabinet door. Hyde poisons himself with cyanide. Poole and Utterson find Jekyll's will, note and confession. They search for Jekyll's body but can't find him.

Mar 1885 (Same day, 10-11pm): Utterson goes home and reads Lanyon's testimony, followed by Jekyll's confession.

Mar 1885 (Midnight next day): This was when Utterson planned to return to Jekyll's and call the police.

#jekyll and hyde #Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde #Robert Louis Stevenson #gothic literature #english literature #english lit student #dr jekyll #edward hyde #jekyll and hyde timeline #utterson

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burningvelvet · 2 years

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when most people see frankenstein stuff in stores during halloween season they’re totally normal about it. but when i see frankenstein stuff in the stores i get up on the shelves and start howling because i know that little green dude is the direct product of an angsty goth teenager writing highly intellectual prose in imitation of her historical philosopher parents while her groupie sister is being impregnated by lord byron in the next room after stalking him across the continent after his divorce and her boyfriend percy is tripping balls on his kidney disease medicine (opium) and hallucinating dead naked women while trying to avoid polidori the 20 y/o doctor who challenged him to a duel (also the inventor of the first vampire novel in the english language after a story he stole from byron told that very same night but made gayer out of revenge even thoug-

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coquettestudies · 16 days

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student math is skipping a class only to go home and study for it

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stevenmeeksfreeamericaradio · 30 days

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Every teenager has one poet they randomly picked up and still has stuck with them that they can’t seem to get rid of. It’s usually Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde , Virginia wolf or Emily Dickinson.

#dark academia #dark acadamia aesthetic #dps fandom #poets #literature #poems #english literature #english lit student #studyblr #memes #light academia #academia #tell me about yours

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punksp1rt · 9 months

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#september #fall season #autumn #huang o #kenneth rexroth #ling chung #to the tune soaring clouds #quotes #english lit student #english major #literature quotes #typography #novel #booklr #poet #poetry #spilled poetry #fall blog #autumn blog

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spalanai · 11 months

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born to slay. forced to write essays.

#me fr #born to slay #slayyyyy #slay #tumblrpost #english major #english literature #literature #literature major #english lit major #english lit studyblr #english lit memes #english lit student #academic essay #essay #school memes #memes #reality #college memes

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beingboldandcourageous · 14 days

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He can't be comfortable?

#study motivation #study buddy #cat #kitty #studyspo #study aesthetic #studyblr #study #cute cats #snhu #english literature #english lit student

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crumblinggothicarchitecture · 1 month

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It's Bothering me so much that Taylor Swift is so fake smart-girl coded, I need to say this:

I have a degree in both Philosophy and English Literature....

She used the term Soliloquy wrong in her song by using it to refer to people espousing nonsense while complaining in an echo-chamber about her.

Instead, a soliloquy is the most honest and introspective a character will ever be. Often the character will stand to the front center of the stage and, as if in a dream, speak openly to themselves (and in respect to the audience) lay out the truth, or the agony of whichever conflict haunts the plot. So, anyway she's just plain wrong in her usage of the term.

I am not giving a sanctimonious soliloquy. Miss Taylor Swift, you are wrong, and I am speaking honestly.

She finishes the lyric "sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see" and I just want to mention that a soliloquy requires an audience... so she does not know what she is talking about by saying that there is no audience for a soliloquy.

Also, for the record, I don't think Taylor Swift knows anything of substance about Aristotle. I, on the other hand, took a three-hour long oral exam over Aristotle's life work while out-of-my-mind-high on Dayquil and pain meds after a surgery. I got an "A", and, somehow, I lived through that, I doubt the validity of Swift's claims to know anything at all about philosophy. Especially, considering how all her songs are about as deep as a puddle.

She's completely lost her credibility.

The woman did not even finish High School in a traditional, well-rounded way. I think she read a handful of Joe's books and now thinks real highly of herself.

Edit: I don't mean to make fun of her for being dumb. I'm frustrated that she's "stepping on my lawn" and making her legion of fans think that she totally knows what she's talking about when it comes to literary references in her work or philosophy. It's obvious that she does not actually understand the concepts she attempts to engage with.

Her only real literary skill is name dropping actually talented writers or philosophers in her songs.

Edit 2: Since some people want to come on this post and tell me that I am being needlessly pedantic about her use of words. Go away. A soliloquy is an ancient literary form, one which transcends cultures and centuries, and I, as a scholar of English Literature, am in the position to say that Swift is speaking about the form incorrectly. She obviously did not even google the form, it's clear she has very little real acquaintance with half the literature concept or authors she names drops.

Sure, soliloquies can be unreliable (Hamlet's "To Be, or not to be" is the most obvious example). However, the fact of the matter is that soliloquy hinges on the Honesty of the character. Swift writing that it's actually the opposite of honesty proves to me that she has no real idea about the literary form.

#anti taylor swift #taylor swift eras #taylornation #taylor swift #taylurking #english literature #english lit student #philosophy #joe alwyn #free joe alwyn #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #ts the tortured poets department #ts theories

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