Instapoetry: An Exploration of Activism through the Works of Atticus and Kaur

Abstract

Social media remains a constant source of innovation and change in the modern world, including literature and poetry. The two are expressions of their times and reflections of their generation, so it comes as no surprise that today’s generation will exert their unique stamp on modern poetry. We have seen a rise in poets using social media as their main publication domain and exchange medium with their readers. To gather further insight into this relatively new phenomenon, we will explore this topic through a qualitative analysis of the structural integrity of the poems, the topics used for inspiration, the engagement between poets and audiences, and the possible impacts on poetry and literature. These poems will be explored through a qualitative analysis based on the theory of activism. The results show engagement from the younger generation, who are interested in the topics that these new poets, use since they get inspiration from modern pop cultural topics and events. If this movement continues to gather momentum, it will surely exert far-reaching effects on how we produce and consume poetry. Since this topic is still so new, it can be difficult to predict the outcomes, and there is a need for further exploration of the expansion of this genre.