The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era - Instapoetry and Remediation

Abstract

In recent years, Instagram has become a popular platform for the publishing of poetry. While some have found a resurgence in poetry appreciation heartening, others have taken issue with this format. Critics of what has been termed “Instapoetry” argue that what is being published on the platform is not of cultural value. For some, it is not even deserving of the term poetry. This thesis makes two arguments. The first is that such judgements are no longer truly possible to make. The state of culture has changed dramatically in the last decades, and traditional hierarchies of culture no longer exist. The second is that Instapoetry, examined as a social phenomenon rather than a cultural one, can be seen to have a value to society as a separate entity from more traditional forms of poetry. The thesis will accomplish this by first laying out a framework for understanding Instapoetry not simply as poetry, but rather a remediated form of it. Literature from authors concerned with media and culture will be used, notably Jay David Bolter, Richard Grusin and Marshall McLuhan. Other literature concerned with social media in particular will also be consulted. The paper concludes that while questions of value have become far more complex in the digital era, one can state with certainty that Instapoetry does have value, and that as a remediated form of poetry, this value is in part something that traditional poetry does not possess.