Instapoetry

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The term instapoetry , in English instapoetry , is a contamination of the words Instagram and poetry or poetry . Under Instapoesie is poetry understood that for the purpose of publication on the social network is created Instagram. However, it is controversial whether and to what extent Instapoesie can be assigned to poetry or defined as a separate genre , since it follows its own rules and mechanisms and reaches new target groups, which can be attributed to the medium of publication. , , ,

history

Instapoetry represents a new way of distributing and consuming poetry on the Internet . However, the publication of poems in digital space is a phenomenon that has existed since the 1990s and is not limited to Instagram, but can also be found on Facebook , Tumblr , Twitter and WordPress , which is why James Morgan Rue is the umbrella term social media poetry suggests. , , ,

Originally Instapoesie was a small form of digital literature that gained great influence over time and is increasingly shaping the literary world of the present. While traditional poetry is perceived by many as an outdated art form and irrelevant to everyday life, Instapoesie is becoming more and more popular due to its mostly universal choice of topics, its simple language, its digital divisibility and its inspirational character. , Belongs According to Kate Kovalik and Jen Scott Curwood both reproduction and the reception of digital art nowadays many young people for everyday life. Accordingly, Instapoesie particularly appeals to the younger generation, especially women between 14 and 24 years of age. ,

Never before have so many people been involved in the production, distribution and reception of poetry as in Instapoesie today. Niels Penke therefore speaks of a new high phase of poetry and assumes that no other genre has experienced such an upswing in recent years. At the same time, however, there is also increasing criticism of this, for example from one of the most famous critics of Instapoetry, Rebecca Watts.

Instapoet_innen are now so popular that they can achieve pop star status primarily through their followers, likes, shares, comments and the like on Instagram. This is why some claim that Instapoet_innen made poetry "cool" again. However, the possible influence of instapoetry on poetry in general is controversial: On the one hand, the popularity of instapoetry could lead to poetry generally experiencing an upswing in society. , On the other hand Instapoesie could also simply a phenomenon of popular culture remain and long term have no significant impact on the (analog) literary world.

Instapoetry as digital literature

Instapoesie can basically be classified as third generation e-literature. This is characterized by a strong dependence on the media and capitalist mechanisms, as well as the juxtaposition of image and text. It can also be viewed as modern transliterature, since as a digital medium it is not tied to a geographical area. , There is also as digital literature and the associated Unüberschaubar- and uncontrollability of the Internet, the risk of plagiarism , which is why many Instapoet_innen work with identification markers on their contributions or ask their Follower_innen in the profile biography always indicate the source.

Insofar as Instapoesie is published on the freely accessible platform Instagram, traditional editing and distribution mechanisms for it become superfluous and new ways of dealing with literature are developing. , Readers not only have more direct access to the authors on Instagram, they also decide - together with the Instagram algorithm - who is made big or displayed, which leads to a departure from the white, male canon and enables those people to get a voice in the literary world who feel underrepresented or excluded. , , , , This way of community building away from the dominant culture is praised by Instapoet_innen as the predominant on Instagram feedback culture in comments or personal messages and the emotional support of Follower_innen, it is noted though, that the constructive criticism via comments off and easy Likes as hate postings and unconstructive discussions are also increasing.

Printed Instapoetry

Instapoesie now serves as a springboard for many writers into the world of analogue literature. Although there are Instapoet_innen who limit themselves to Instagram as a publication medium, some also publish printed books, which, in contrast to free consumption, can be purchased on Instagram. By first reaching the broadest possible global audience in digital space, Instapoet_innen should generate a basic level of awareness in order to be able to have analogue success from now on.

However, printed Instapoesie not only promotes the income of Instapoet_innen, but also serves to promote popularity . The respective Instagram profiles are in turn used as marketing tools for analog books, digital poems and yourself, creating a cycle. In addition, Instapoet_innen use the social network to announce book discounts, new editions and tour dates.

Printed Instapoesy usually contains more than the poems freely accessible on Instagram to encourage readers to buy. It differs from traditional printed poetry in that the majority of the poems were originally published on Instagram and are thus influenced by the visual strategies there and the juxtaposition of poems, images and illustrations that is typical of Instapoesie. However, since the functions of Instagram, which are essential for digital Instapoesie, such as comments, reposts and likes, are no longer available in analogue forms, it is more like traditional poetry in printed form than digitally and at the same time, due to the change in media and the associated divergent reading, it has an effect compared to traditional Poetry always banal.

From 2016 to 2017, the number of books sold by Instapoet_innen in the US doubled , so that in 2017 they made up almost half (47%) of all books of poetry sold. Overall, 12 of the 20 (60%) best-selling poets in the US started writing on Instagram in 2017, including Amanda Lovelace, rh Sin and Atticus. The most successful US-American publisher in the field of Instapoesie, with which not only Rupi Kaur, but also rh Sin and Amanda Lovelace were published, is Andrews McMeel .

The high sales figures for printed Instapoesie testify to the influence of social networks on the literary business and, together with the high number of followers, make Instapoesie the first highly profitable form of digital literature. , ,

The best-selling Instapoetin is Rupi Kaur . Her volume of poetry milk and honey (Andrews McMeel 2015) is considered the most successful of the 21st century to date. Before moving to Instagram in 2013, she was already posting poetry on Tumblr. Today her Instagram profile is considered exemplary for those of Instapoet_innen: She shares poems with self-made illustrations as well as photos and other images, always uses the same font, disregards upper and lower case, uses clear language, limits her punctuation to dots and publishes mostly short poems with often encouraging statements. , Treated by Kaur issues such as violence, pain, abuse, love, sexuality, femininity, feminism, ethnicity, trauma and power are not only typical of Instapoesie but also speak the largest target group, young women, particularly young at Kaur Women of Color , on. , , ,

features

shape

The aesthetics of the profiles of Instapoet_innen is often similar: on an empty, often white, partially marbled background, between one and fifteen mostly free verses are prepared with a typewriter-like black font and repeatedly regardless of upper and lower case . ,

Characteristic of Instapoesie are also inter-media and multi-modal elements, so the constant connection between text and image to borrowings which visual poetry . , , , It is sometimes assumed that this same combination that reading comprehension is intended to facilitate. Since there is little space for text in the pictures and in the picture description, the combination of text and picture (less often video and audio) is decisive for the individual aesthetics and “ brand ” of an Instapoeten or Instapoet. The craftsmanship and singularity of one's own work is also highlighted with the help of pictures, for example when a handwritten poem is photographed in a notebook and then uploaded to Instagram. In order to stand out from the rest of Instagram with your own aesthetics and to be as conspicuous as possible in the feed, there are also collaborations with illustrators and photographers. In addition, hashtags are used to be as efficient as possible to find, but also to describe the poems in more detail and to support the reader's understanding.

Since Instapoesie is tied to the form specifications of Instagram and thus a certain number of characters per post or image, it is usually relatively short and relies on a conscious choice of words. This necessary minimalism is untypical of today's times, as formal norms in the field of (analog) lyric poetry are increasingly broken. However, Instagram does not provide any further formalities.

The brevity and simplicity of Instapoesie can be seen symbolically for fast-moving and high-performance societies in which there is little time to deal with (traditional, complex) poetry. In this sense Instapoesie was called "fidget-spinner-poetry". The simple and clear language as well as the brevity of the poems ultimately make Instapoesie something everyday that is available in small doses anywhere and at any time without much effort. , , In addition, short texts are better suited for the preparation in mass media . Instapoet_innen praise the simple and everyday production and publication of Instapoesie in the app, which is accessible at all times.

It is unclear how the reception of Instapoetry differs from that of other media. It can be said, however, that poetry on Instagram is increasingly "seen" and not read due to its brevity, which creates new readings.

content

The subjects dealt with in Instapoesie are mostly very subjective and more influenced by feelings than is the case with traditional poems. Because of this, they always have an inspirational character and resemble aphorisms . Lili Pâquet describes Instapoesie accordingly as a combination of poetry and self-help literature and emphasizes the encouraging character and thus the more frequent central effect of Instapoesie in contrast to the content, which should, among other things, help people to overcome psychological problems. Instapoet_innen also use hashtags like #inspirationalquote, #healing and #selflove over and over again. ,

The origin of the style often present in Instapoesie is located in Romanticism , in which the sensitivity of the writer was in the foreground. However, in contrast to Instapoetry, which is often produced by Women of Color, this era was strongly masculine. The topics addressed differ accordingly. Instapoesie focuses on femininity, gender injustice, sexuality, sexual violence, rape, abuse, ethnicity, self-harm, self-love, loss, encouragement and identity. ,

criticism

The criticism of Instapoesie can be summarized with the fact that it is denied any cultural value. For example, Instapoesie was pejoratively referred to as “ McDonald ’s writing” and described as a narcissistic form of expression of capitalism, which is particularly used by a young, anxious generation who are only looking for distraction. There are now Instagram profiles that treat Instapoesie satirically, such as Thom Young.

The most common criticism of Instapoetry is that it is banal, not deep enough, too poorly thought out, too simple, boring, commercializing, generalizing, too sentimental and not tied to analogue lyric traditions. , , This is partly universal to the popular in Instapoesie topics that represent cliché traps, and due the simplicity of the poems in terms of both the content and the form. Accordingly, poorly chosen, simple or widespread metaphors and tropes , simple line skips and aesthetic and stylistic similarities within Instapoetry are criticized.

Since Instapoesie is simply dependent on a different medium than traditional poetry and is therefore fundamentally different, the cultural value in comparison to this can only be recorded with difficulty. Due to the degradation of Instapoetry as a culturally irrelevant phenomenon that can only be assigned to popular culture, Instapoetry has so far hardly been scientifically treated. ,

Hashtags from German and English speaking countries

  • #deutschepoesie
  • #poem
  • #instagrampoesie
  • #instalyrik
  • #instapoetry
  • #instapoesie
  • #instapoet
  • #instapoets
  • #literature
  • #literature
  • #lyric
  • #poetry
  • #poet
  • #poets
  • #poetry
  • #poetrycommunity
  • #poetryisnotdead
  • #poetryporn
  • #poetsofinstagram
  • #writersofinstagram

Instapoet_innen from German and English speaking countries

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c James Morgan Rue: The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era. Instapoetry and Remediation. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 7 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Alison Myers: Instagram Poetry. You Might As Well Accept It . In: University Wire . April 17, 2018 ( proquest.com ).
  3. ↑ Mayra Lynn Assink: Instapoetry and its online Transnational Activism. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 11 .
  4. ↑ James Morgan Rue: The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era. Instapoetry and Remediation. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 34 .
  5. ↑ a b Lili Pâquet: Selfie-Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 296 .
  6. ↑ a b c Julie Plummer: Instapoetry. The power of words in a techno-centric world . In: University Wire . June 20, 2018 ( proquest.com ).
  7. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 455 .
  8. ↑ a b Julie Plummer: The power of brevity. Twitter and micropoetry . In: University Wire . February 24, 2017 ( proquest.com ).
  9. ↑ a b Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 192 .
  10. ^ Hannah Taylor: The Queen and the Laureate. Social Media Poets and the Creation of Minor Literatures. Master thesis . Texas 2019, p. 54-55 .
  11. ↑ Mayra Lynn Assink: Instapoetry and its online Transnational Activism. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 12-14 .
  12. ↑ Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 185 .
  13. ↑ Mayra Lynn Assink: Instapoetry and its online Transnational Activism. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 12 .
  14. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 475 .
  15. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies . No. 49 , 2019, p. 453-456 .
  16. ↑ a b James Morgan Rue: The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era. Instapoetry and Remediation. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 8 .
  17. ↑ a b c Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 452 .
  18. ↑ a b c d e f g h Miriam Francisco: Let Instagram poetry live . In: University Wire . November 7, 2018 ( proquest.com ).
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g Maggie Millner: Instapoets Prove Powerful in Print . In: Poets & Writers. 50 & Forward . June 13, 2018 ( pw.org ).
  20. ↑ a b c Kathi Inman Berens: E-Lit's # 1 Hit. Is Instagram Poetry E-literature? In: Electronic Book Review . July 4, 2019 ( electronicbookreview.com ).
  21. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 6 .
  22. ↑ Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 186 .
  23. ↑ a b Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 190-191 .
  24. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 453 .
  25. ↑ a b Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 2 .
  26. ^ Hannah Taylor: The Queen and the Laureate. Social Media Poets and the Creation of Minor Literatures. Master thesis . Texas 2019, p. 53 .
  27. ↑ a b Lili Pâquet: Selfie-Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 301 .
  28. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 461-462 .
  29. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 469 .
  30. ↑ a b Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 465 .
  31. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 2-5 .
  32. ↑ Lili Pâquet: Selfie Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 298 .
  33. ↑ a b James Morgan Rue: The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era. Instapoetry and Remediation. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 6 .
  34. ↑ a b Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 191 .
  35. ↑ a b Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 463 .
  36. ↑ Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 193 .
  37. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 464 .
  38. ↑ Lili Pâquet: Selfie Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 299-300 .
  39. ↑ a b Ramya Yandaya: Rupi Kaur and the Rise of Instapoetry . In: University Wire . August 29, 2018 ( proquest.com ).
  40. ↑ Lili Pâquet: Selfie Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 302 .
  41. ↑ Kate Kovalik / Jen Scott Curwood: #poetryisnotdead: understanding Instagram poetry within a transliteracies framework . In: Literacy . No. 53/4 , 2019, pp. 192-193 .
  42. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 474 .
  43. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 1 .
  44. ↑ Lili Pâquet: Selfie Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 296-310 .
  45. ↑ Niels Penke: #instapoetry. Popular lyrics on Instagram and their affordances . In: Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics . No. 49 , 2019, p. 472 .
  46. ↑ Lili Pâquet: Selfie Help. The Multimodal Appeal of Instagram Poetry . In: The Journal of Popular Culture . No. 52/2 , 2019, p. 311 .
  47. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 3 .
  48. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 4 .
  49. ↑ Alyson Miller: 'Poetry's Beyoncé'. On Rupi Kaur and the commodifying effects of instapoetics . In: Axon. Creative explorations . No. 9/1 , 2019, p. 1-2 .
  50. ↑ Jaime Watts: Instapoetry lacks depth and substance . In: University Wire . March 7, 2018 ( proquest.com ).
  51. ↑ James Morgan Rue: The Future of Poetry in the Digital Era. Instapoetry and Remediation. Master thesis . Utrecht 2019, p. 34-35 .