Social media ruining poetry as we know it seems like a broad generalization to make — and a bold one at that. After all, how many of us have fallen victim to the accusation, “It’s the phones, isn’t it?”
Honestly, though? I’m with the Boomers on this one.
While poetry is subjective and comes with no set “rules,” it still comes with standards. Otherwise, why are there poetry contests? And why is there a National Poet?
Nowadays, it seems that social media has “dumbed down” poetry. People throw the word around when, in reality, their “poetry” consists of ordinary sentences divided by an inordinate quantity of line breaks. But why is that? And why has this change come about?
What Is Poetry?
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
– “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” by Randall Jarrell
Before we begin, let’s define our terms.
Oxford Languages defines poetry as “literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.”
Merriam-Webster defines poetry as “metrical writing” or “writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.”
Obviously, these definitions leave room for a lot of ambiguity. Nuance is part of the package deal when you’re talking about something as subjective as art and language. For instance, both these definitions mention rhythm. But poetry also includes free verse, devoid of a set meter, as well as blank verse, which lacks a rhyme scheme. Yet we still include free verse and blank verse in our list of poetic devices.
So are our terms even adequately defined? Does this mean there is no set definition, and poetry is just how we make it? Obviously, we know that that’s not the case, but the definitions still matter when we see social media pushing the boundaries of what we call “poetry.”
The nature of social media
The whole point of apps like Instagram and Tiktok is to quickly grab attention for as long as the average user’s focus will allow. This calls for shock value, sensationalism, and an appeal to the senses.
Furthermore, the average user rarely opens Instagram to further their intellect. At least, I know I don’t. After a long day of school or work, people want to unwind, reset, and enjoy the luxury of not having to think. They want mindless entertainment. And there’s nothing wrong with that. However, it simply means that social media is not the right place to expect in-depth analysis or high-quality thought.
That’s the thing: reading expects something of you. Active engagement, comprehension, and a different level of cognition than an aesthetic photograph or ASMR video requires. There is no instant gratification. And that is what users often look for when they scroll. This means that is also the kind of audience to whom content creators will cater. As a result, the poetry you find on Instagram will often be quickly and easily digestible.
Back in my day…
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
– “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
Growing up, I thought of poetry as the zenith of human intellect. I loved the inherent depth of thought required to understand the content. Better yet, I loved not being able to understand the words at first. To simply enjoy the complexity of the language before delving into analysis. I considered poetry to be one of the highest forms of art — a graceful intersection between intellect and emotion.
When we studied Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Edgar Allen Poe, and Shakespeare in high school, we studied devices, metaphor, hidden meaning, etc. There was intention in even their choice of punctuation, their capitalization, and their rhyme scheme.
Now, I look at Instagram poetry and feel cheated. This is not to condemn anyone who may enjoy the aesthetic or the content. But, regardless, it is still an inaccuracy to define it as “poetry.”
The birth of Insta poetry
If we consider the nature of social media, we acknowledge that users gravitate towards content that does not require much energy to consume. And if someone wants to grow a following on, say, Instagram, then they must cater to these users and their preferences.
Therefore, if an influencer wants to grow a following for their poetry, they often have to compromise something. Either they accept that they may be buried in the algorithm or they produce quick, easy, and cheap content of very little quality. That is what happens when words become commodities.
The Instagram effect
What used to be a complex form of art that took years to perfect and master is now a cheap commodity used to feign profundity. And because of social media, this type of “poetry” is spreading. Unfortunately, it may be the only variety to which some are exposed.
While it may seem pretentious to “gatekeep” poetry by insisting that it abides by certain rules — or that it is one thing and isn’t another — in actuality, it may be even more pretentious to believe that any sentence is granted greater significance simply because it is presented as “poetry.”
It is true that art changes, transforms, and evolves, but, just like painting, there must be some kind of standard enforced before the art form is made ridiculous. For instance, just because someone uses paint for something does not mean they necessarily made a painting. The same goes for poetry. Just because you used words for something does not mean those words formed a poem.
Here is a famous example of traditionally accepted poetry: “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Meanwhile, here is an example of an Instagram poetry post with 33.5k likes by an account with 178k followers. It is a great thought and a valuable opinion. It’s also just a sentence. The tendency appears to be an appeal to emotions and aesthetics rather than actual substance and intellect.
Are we losing the plot?
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.
– “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
As the first chronically online generation, we are uniquely situated to observe the changes social media is wreaking across daily life. No doubt some of these changes are positive. But at the same time, we cannot deny that “brainrot” is a real phenomenon and may even be affecting the oldest aspects of human culture, like poetry.
The problem is that art forms are notoriously difficult to define. Poetry changes and transforms with time, culture, genre, style, etc. Easy to critique but nearly impossible to pin down satisfactorily.
So what do you think? Do you agree that social media is doing poetry a disservice? Or is this simply the next phase we ought to accept? Comment your opinions down below!
