Instapoetry

Instapoetry developed as a result of young, amateur poets sharing their output to expand their readership, who began using social media as their preferred method of distribution rather than traditional publishing methods. The term "instapoetry" was created by other writers trying to define and understand the new extension of instant poetry shared via social media, most prominently Instagram.{{Cite web|url=https://tkbr.publishing.sfu.ca/pub800/2018/10/the-legitimacy-of-instapoetry-why-we-need-it-to-save-poetry-publishing/|title=The Legitimacy of Instapoetry: Why We Need It to Save Poetry Publishing|date=2018-10-01|website=PUB800|access-date=2019-04-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410072727/https://tkbr.publishing.sfu.ca/pub800/2018/10/the-legitimacy-of-instapoetry-why-we-need-it-to-save-poetry-publishing/|archive-date=2019-04-10}}

In its most basic form, Instapoetry usually consists of bite-sized verses that consider political and social subjects such as immigration, domestic violence, sexual assault, love, culture, feminism, gun violence, war, racism, LGBTQ rights, and other social justice topics.{{Cite news|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519125136/LitRC?u=sfsu_main&sid=LitRC|title=The Most Popular Poets in the World|last=Wilson|first=Carl|date=17 December 2017|work=The New York Times Book Review|access-date=18 March 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/entertainment-pmn/books-entertainment-pmn/verse-goes-viral-instagram-poets-shake-up-the-literary-establishment|title=Verse goes viral: Instagram poets shake up the literary establishment {{!}} National Post|last=Books|first=P. M. N.|newspaper=National Post|date=2018-06-06|language=en-CA|access-date=2019-05-05}} All of these elements are usually made to fit social media feeds that are easily accessible through applications on smartphones.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pluralitypress.com/interpunct-blog/instapoetry-traditional-poetry-art-forms-for-the-future|title=Instapoetry + "Traditional" Poetry: Art Forms for the Future|last=Francois|first=Menda|date=27 July 2018|website=Plurality Press|access-date=May 2, 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918124629/http://www.pluralitypress.com/interpunct-blog/instapoetry-traditional-poetry-art-forms-for-the-future|archive-date=2020-09-18}}

Despite the diversity of poetry on Instagram, the Brazilian linguist Bruna Osaki Fazano found that shared "aspects of the compositional form, theme and style" mean that it can be understood as a specific genre.{{Cite journal |last1=Oliveira |first1=Ulisses |last2=Fazano |first2=Bruna Osaki |date=2020-05-27 |title=O gênero instapoetry e a inteligência coletiva / The instapoetry genre and the collective intelligence |journal=Revista de Estudos da Linguagem |url=http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/relin/article/view/15731 |language=pt |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=1161–1190 |doi=10.17851/2237-2083.28.3.1161-1190 |s2cid=216505305 |issn=2237-2083|doi-access=free }} Writing in Poetics Today, JuEunhae Knox combined quantitative and qualitative analysis to show that Instapoetry is a cohesive genre, in part because "the sheer volume and rapidity of content production in turn encourages posts that are not only visually appealing but also immediately recognizable as Instapoems".{{Cite journal |last=Knox |first=JuEunhae |date=2022-09-01 |title=United We 'Gram: Scrolling through the Assimilated Aesthetics of Instapoetry |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-9780403 |journal=Poetics Today |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=479–532 |doi=10.1215/03335372-9780403 |s2cid=252349732 |issn=0333-5372|url-access=subscription }}

Instapoetry has been seen as a practice that serves as a form of self-staging for poets{{Cite journal |last=Penke |first=Niels |date=2019-09-01 |title=#instapoetry. Populäre Lyrik auf Instagram und ihre Affordanzen |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s41244-019-00143-1 |journal=Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik |language=de |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=451–475 |doi=10.1007/s41244-019-00143-1 |s2cid=201014048 |issn=2365-953X|url-access=subscription }} and "[crafts] authenticity".{{Cite journal |last=Manning |first=Maria |date=2020 |title=Crafting Authenticity: Reality, Storytelling, and Female Self-Representation through Instapoetry |url=https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/813033. |journal=Storytelling, Self, Society |volume=16 |issue=2|page=263 |doi=10.13110/storselfsoci.16.2.0263 |s2cid=234921051 |url-access=subscription }} {{ill|Eirik Vassenden|no}} describes the work of Norwegian poet {{ill|Trygve Skaug|no}} as appearing to offer a "simple, almost direct access to the inner self".{{Cite journal |last=Vassenden |first=Eirik |date=2019 |title=Kunsten å hate. Eller: Hvilken plass har kritikken i de nye offentlighetene? |journal=Samtiden |pages=113 |doi=10.18261/ISSN1890-0690-2019-03-11 |s2cid=214274600 |quote="Denne poesien er ikke vanskelig å lese eller vanskelig å forstå. Den handler ofte om selvrespekt eller selv- omsorg: «if you are not enough for yourself / you will never be enough / for someone else».16 I tillegg lover den en enkel, nesten direkte tilgang til det innerste. Den er «ekte», i betyd- ningen «ikke litterær»."}} Vassenden writes that poems such as Rupi Kaur's "if you are not enough for yourself / you will never be enough / for someone else"{{Cite web |last=Kaur |first=Rupi |date=2017-06-12 |title=If you are not enough for yourself |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BVQTX1VAJFD/ |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=Instagram |language=en}} are "authentic" to such an extent that they are not literary.

Scholars have also studied the work of specific Instapoets, such as Rupi Kaur, R.M. Drake, Aja Monet, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Nayyirah Waheed, Atticus, Nikita Gill and {{ill|Trygve Skaug|no}}.{{Cite journal |last=Vassenden |first=Eirik |date=2019-10-14 |title=Kunsten å hate. Eller: Hvilken plass har kritikken i de nye offentlighetene? |url=http://www.idunn.no/doi/10.18261/ISSN1890-0690-2019-03-11 |journal=Samtiden |language=no |volume=128 |issue=3 |pages=108–115 |doi=10.18261/ISSN1890-0690-2019-03-11 |s2cid=214274600 |issn=0036-3928|url-access=subscription }}

Academics have shown appreciation for the way in which Instapoetry has stimulated interest in poetry in general.{{Cite web|title=InstaPoets are revolutionizing the genre|url=https://www.24symbols.com/24stories/en/instapoets-poetry-digital-age/|last=24symbols|date=2019-02-13|website=24stories|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-30}}{{Cite news|last=Ferguson|first=Donna|date=2019-01-21|title=Poetry sales soar as political millennials search for clarity |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/21/poetry-sales-soar-as-political-millennials-search-for-clarity|access-date=2019-05-05}}{{Cite news|date=2015-11-23|title=How do I love thee? Let me Instagram it|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/23/instapoets-instagram-twitter-poetry-lang-leav-rupi-kaur-tyler-knott-gregson|access-date=2021-12-03|newspaper=The Guardian}}{{Cite web|title=Turning Page {{!}} The "Insta-Activist": Revolutions in Poetry|url=http://www.turningpagemag.com/2020/04/the-insta-activist-revolutions-in-poetry.html#.YaoZsC-B1QI|access-date=2021-12-03|website=www.turningpagemag.com}} Meanwhile, it has been argued that since Instapoets avoid critical evaluations, academics, and the publishing industry, Instapoets qualify more as online celebrities than literary figures.{{Cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bronwen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XfNDwAAQBAJ&dq=Instapoets+online+celebrities+rather+than+literary+figures&pg=PT127|title=Literature and Social Media|date=2020-01-31|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-02585-9|language=en}} Additionally, although Instapoetry has been characterized as anti-establishment, Alyson Miller noted traditional or even conservative views in the online posts of Instapoets in contrast with the activist views the style is associated with, and that there is a contradiction between "the extra-textual commentary surrounding Instapoetry, particularly by way of interviews and artistic statements, and the content of works which repeatedly reinscribe conservative, patriarchal, and heteronormative worldviews".{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Alyson |date=2021-11-01 |title=A Digital Revolution? Insiders, Outsiders, and the "Disruptive Potential" of Instapoetry |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/arcadia-2021-9029/html |journal=Arcadia |language=en |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=161–182 |doi=10.1515/arcadia-2021-9029 |s2cid=243865541 |issn=1613-0642|url-access=subscription }} Thom Young, a poet and high school English teacher, created a parody Instagram page as a way to mock Instapoets and their work, describing it as "fidget-spinner poetry. Like they're just scrolling on their devices, to read something instantly, while the libraries are empty. I think people today don't want to read anything that causes a whole lot of critical thinking."{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/poetry/poet-trolling-everyone-instagram-show-social-media-glorifies-pop-poetry|title=Why this poet is posting meaningless verse on Instagram|date=2017-06-12|website=PBS NewsHour|language=en-us|access-date=2019-05-05}} According to Johnathan Ford's piece in the Financial Times, as Instagram's algorithms have limited prospective Instapoets' reach-per-post, it has pushed them to pay to promote their material. Popular Instagram accounts will be promoted to the front of users' feeds, with the app's algorithm, in the view of critics, favoring the spread of bland, inauthentic, or clichéd content while preventing disciplined poetry from reaching new audiences.{{Cite news|last=Ford|first=Jonathan|date=2019-05-24|title=Instagram threatens to stifle a new generation of poets|work=Financial Times|url=https://www.ft.com/content/7a84b216-6849-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056|access-date=2021-11-14}}

• Rupi Kaur
• Atticus
• Amanda Lovelace
• Tyler Knott Gregson
• Najwa Zebian
• Lang Leav
• Nikita Gill
• Upile Chisala
• Donna Ashworth{{Cite web |last=Silva |first=Rafael Mendes |date=2024-01-31 |title=Instapoetry is successful and there’s nothing wrong with that |url=http://theconversation.com/instapoetry-is-successful-and-theres-nothing-wrong-with-that-222012 |access-date=2024-04-17 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}
• Trista Mateer{{Cite news |last=Ford |first=Jonathan |date=2019-05-24 |title=Instagram threatens to stifle a new generation of poets |url=https://www.ft.com/content/7a84b216-6849-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056 |access-date=2025-03-06 |work=Financial Times}}

• Hashtag activism
• Virtue signalling

{{reflist|2}}

• [https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/meet-rupi-kaur-queen-of-the-instapoets-129262/ Meet Rupi Kaur, Queen of the ‘Instapoets’], Rolling Stone (magazine) (December 2017)
• [https://www.vogue.mx/agenda/cultura/galerias/frases-de-paz-y-amor/4914?image=5c0735b432b1ca243bf090e0 NidaMahmoed - Instaquotes: give peace a chance], Vogue Mexico Vogue México y Latinoamérica (July 2016)

Category:Genres of poetry

Category:Social media

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Category:Genres of electronic literature