The Limitless Restrictions of Poetry

The era of Instagram poetry begs the question of whether the art form is losing its complexity.

BY: CLAUDIA MINARDI

Thea- Sol Series 3/3 by North Evergreen

I’ve never considered myself a poet.

Fictional narratives was the route I preferred: a straightforward approach that I could dress up with metaphors and witty dialogue as I pleased. Poetry seemed to simultaneously have too many rules and too much freedom: a vast, grey area that I was too overwhelmed to explore. There were new practices I would have to consider, such as rhyming, syllable count, even rhythmic meter (which seemed especially daunting to me. How am I supposed to know how to arrange certain words based on how they are stressed?). 

Where would someone even begin when writing a poem? There are so many different styles and forms, with their own set of rules that can be broken. If I wrote three words, could that technically be considered a poem?

My feelings changed once I took my first poetry class this year.

Although the movie Dead Poets Society may have had a small influence on me, I enrolled in the class because I was curious. I had so many questions about poetry as a literary medium. Who knows, maybe I secretly had this poetic talent and it would be unlocked by taking this class.

Now that the semester has come to an end, I can say that many of my questions have been answered (also, I don’t think I have a magical poetry superpower, but I have developed my techniques). Poetry, in all its restrictions and lack thereof, is an immensely freeing form. There’s no right or wrong, it’s all simply art.

Midnight Flow by North Evergreen

My professor, Daniel Tysdal, shared his thoughts on what can be classified as poetry. 

“I definitely err on the side of "anything can be poetry," he said. “There are real artistic, political, and ethical dangers in saying only X is true poetry or only Y is good poetry. Instead, I prefer voices and bodies remain free to explore and create and discover what poetry is for them, to show us what poetry can be. Don't get me wrong. I love categories, but only insofar as they move us to learn what was and inspire us to discover what can be.” 

From these categories, various poetic forms are born. 

Sonnets are poems with a set number of lines, rhyme scheme, and rhythmic meter. Free verse, on the other hand, is whatever you want. Your lines can have two syllables or 25. Some lines can rhyme while others don’t. As we progress through time, new forms are created. 

For instance, in my poetry class, we read a piece by Raoul Fernandes called “Attachments”. It’s structured like a series of JPEGs, only the titles of these files being revealed. One line says “jamessmokingmarijuanathroughapotatopipe” while the next is “sunsetpastthepowerlines”. It holds just enough mystery for the reader’s interest to be invested in the poem, and just enough detail to “see” these JPEGs.

Throughout poetry’s evolutionary journey, a new form affectionately dubbed “Instagram poetry” has emerged. It’s known for its simplistic language and usually partnered with line doodles. Instagram poetry is notably popular for the controversy surrounding it. Some say it is poetry with a modern flair, others say it’s too simplistic and shallow. 

I remember a few years ago seeing students in the hallways clutching their copy of Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur as they made their way to the next class. The poetry book was so popular, it lined the shelves of every Indigo store I walked into. Excerpts even found their way onto my Instagram explore page. The book was unavoidable.

This new poetry format has exploded and with it came a wave of controversy. Many argued that there is no mystery, no questions or lingering thoughts after reading the piece. Instead, everything you need to know is laid out before you, and that’s it. 

One poem reads: “growth is a process. you do not just wake up and become the butterfly”.

The simplicity of poems such as these begs the question of whether poetry is losing its complexity and is a dying art.

Plant People No1 by North Evergreen

“Poetry should not feel like an easy read but an intellectual and emotional journey, one that has checkpoints, setbacks, riddles,” says Sun Paik of the Stanford Daily writes. “It would be a shame to have people’s first impressions of poetry be one in which the answers are already right in front of them, and they never get to play the wondrous game of language within the poetic realm.“

A Vice article last year was published about how much effort goes into Instagram poetry. The author wrote a collection of rushed and one-lined pieces to take part in the trend. He ended up gaining over 650 followers after 100 posts and received many DMs of complete strangers praising his work. One person explained how the poems helped them get over a breakup. The poems in question: "They may be sly as a fox, but you can take it – You're as strong as an ox". 

In today’s fast paced world, some people’s spirits could be lifted by connecting to a couple lines of Instagram poetry. 

Professor Tysdal gave his opinion on the influx of Instagram Poetry and the controversy surrounding it. 

“I, admittedly, do not know a lot about Instagram poetry,” he said. “However, I am very keen to learn more as a lover and writer of poetry. One of the things I value about any art is the way it develops and changes over time, its malleability and openness, its revolutions and what it makes possible.”

That’s exactly the message. Poetry shouldn’t be an object for people to “gatekeep”. It’s an art form, free to anyone to modify and give new life. 

This ties into poetry as a creative, therapeutic outlet. It’s seen as freeing because of the liberties you can take when penning a poem.

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“What makes poetry freeing, I think, is its past and its future,” Professor Tysdal said. “As poets, we can read the poets of the past who resisted and lived and explored through poetry and we can take knowledge and inspiration and strength in this. We can also find inspiration and strength in the poets of the future, knowing we need to live and resist to keep that fire alive for them.”

Poetry is made to evolve and grow with the times, it’s never one set form. As Professor Tysdal mentioned, poetry will reflect the wisdom, experiences and style of new generations. Although Rupi Kaur’s words may not be as sophisticated-sounding as Shakespeare’s sonnets, and the length of her poems are significantly shorter than a sestina, who is anyone to say her work isn’t poetry. 

Perhaps it isn’t as thought provoking in comparison to other poets, but the craft is hers to explore the written word and give life to her ideas and share them with the world. 

If anything can be considered poetry, then this implies the existence of bad poetry. This isn’t to say that if a poem is bad, it is disgraceful. If anything, Professor Tysdal welcomes bad poetry.

“This category can be used to exclude poets and limit learners” he acknowledges. However, once one gains a great understanding of poetry, a greater confidence in their skills, I believe "bad" poetry can be a useful category. There is something very freeing about writing bad poetry, about giving yourself permission to write something you believe is bad. This removes any cruel inner voices and often leads to some pretty cool discoveries.”

Twilight #2 by North Evergreen

Moral of the story: write good poetry, write bad poetry, write poems that are 40 lines long and poems that have no structure or complexity. Something you wrote to dispense your bottled up emotions may touch the heart of someone who is going through a similar experience. Your piece about your morning cup of coffee may brighten the mood of a stranger. The poem you wrote at 2 in the morning, thinking it was the next Emily Dickenson, may be embarrassing to read the next day but the feeling it gave you while penning it was unexplainable. That’s the beauty of poetry and all of its freedom.