Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric

Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric Gabriella Barthe University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Rhetorical Theory Professor Arrigo

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Table of Contents Traditional Versus Technological …………………………………………………………….3 Is Poetry Dead? ………………………………………………………………………………..4 Social Poetics …………………………………………………………………………………..6 Communal Experiences ……………………………………………………………………….9 Pushback ………………………………………………………………………………………12 Visual Poetry …………………………………………………………………………………..15 Artifact Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………….18 Rupi Kaur ………………………………………………………………………………19 W I L D E R …………………………………………………………………………….20 References …………………………………………………………………………………….22

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Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric I

Traditional Versus Technological On the heels of a resurging poetry boom amongst traditional booksellers, people have begun looking at the genre with new fervor. Authors such as Rupi Kaur have reached millions and have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, ranking at the top of the charts in their genre, after gaining a following on Instagram.

The social networking platform has created its own buzz in regards to the poetry genre and has left many asking if it is in fact proper poetry.

Though, with it’s use of visuals one could argue that Instagram poets are not only creating poetry, they’re expanding the genre.

Poetry has been part of the literary culture for some time yet seems guarded by canonical gatekeepers to many. With the rise of social media, poetry has made its way into people’s general day to day lives.

Instagram poets have taken over the platform sharing works of poetry in a new visual manner. Many view Instagram Poetry as a plague on the genre. The popularity of poetry in social media spheres has allowed for the rise in what were once social media poets to become full-fledged authors releasing bestselling books such as “Milk and Honey.” Yet, these authors are still met with opposition – many have come to feel the Instagram poets are cheapening what poetry was intended to be.

By posting short, visually digestible, forms of poetry that don’t often require much thought to get to the apparent meanings, some would argue that these authors aren’t writing good poetry. That is to say, that Instagram poets are lazy writers who have been catapulted to recognition by a young audience that doesn’t know “good writing.” Yet others argue, much like is intended here, that Instagram poetry has broadened the genre and allowed for a new generation of individuals to connect on a personal level with a collective human experience. Through visually appealing and short snippets of emotion, Instagram poetry has combined the genre with visual rhetoric to its own benefit. Thus, creating a new subgenre that cannot be separated from its visual counterparts.

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Is Poetry Dead?

It comes as no surprise to many that poetry as a genre lost popularity over the years. So much so, in fact that the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts reported “the share of Americans who had read at least one work of poetry in the previous year had dropped from 17% in 1992 to 6.7% in 2012” (Maher). This drastic shift in public interest in regard to poetry is concerning for proponents of the genre. The exact causes for the declined consumption are not certain though many can speculate as to the means.

Newsweek columnist Bruce Wexler chalks this disinterest up to changes in society as a whole. We as a nation simply do not value the aspects that go into poetry be it intense metaphor, visual language, or simply not being straight forward, “From the Me Generation of the '70s to the getrich-quick '80s, our culture became intensely prosaic. Ambiguity, complexity and paradox fell out of favor. We embraced easily defined goals and crystalclear communication” (Wexler). Wexler sights Ronald Reagan as a turning stone for politics’ use of poetry as well. With fewer people sighting prose, and more people claiming that they do not see the point of poetry itself, America simply stopped partaking in the culture. This sentiment is shared by Education Week writer Morris Freedman who went as far as to claim that even literary scholars do not appreciate poetry as much as they used to, “In our recent cultural history, the respectability of poetry has indeed declined precipitously among those who take serious literacy seriously” (Freedman). So, not only is the general culture finding less and less value in poetry, but the study of poetics has been declining as well.

This is a disheartening statement for many who have dedicated their lives to what seems like a dying art. Though, it is often sighted that the culture surrounding poetry itself is the cause for the decline. Gatekeepers constituting what “good” poetry is, higher schools of learning stopping many from investing time and energy in the genre, and a seemingly cis white male dominated catalog of popular and mainstream poets halted people from partaking in the culture from the inside. In an interview with The Washington Post, the founder of Button Poetry spoke out about this content monitorization, “Poetry has been such a niche space for so long, and the people in it

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feel like they're entitled to decide what is good and what is bad” (Ramanthan). Even so far as teaching students in schools has become increasingly difficult. With the growing societal views of poetry as unnecessary and the need for changing the way we teach and engage with younger individuals based on technology, poetry has been lost on many students. “I think you'd have a hard time throwing James Joyce into schools and getting interest from a younger generation,” (Leederman) Canadian Instagram poet Atticus sums up this sentiment to The Globe and Mail.

Students cannot gain an interest in the genre when there is so little commonality with the world around them. If society does not value poetics, why would students value it in their course work? With little interest or engagement from students, lack of appreciation from society, and a rigid grounding in academia, poetry’s decline seemed almost inevitable and unrelenting.

Though, what comes as a surprise to many is poetry’s recent insertion into the mainstream.

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Social Poetics In 2018 Rupi Kaur – noted Instagram poet and Feminist – saw her poetry book “The Sun and Her Flowers” hit #1 on the PW trade paperback list (Maher). It is no small feat to reach this milestone in any genre, but Kaur was able to reach this prestigious achievement in a genre that was thought to be doomed. Kaur is not alone in this endeavor. “Love&Misadventure” author Lang Leav has released three poetry collections topping over 300,000 copies sold (The Hindustan Times). In fact, Amazon’s best-seller list in November of 2017 included four poetry volumes: Milk and Vine by Adam Gasiewski and Emily Beck, I hope this reaches her in time by r.h. Sin, The Sun and her Flowers and Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (Quartzy).

The common factor among all of these authors is their social media presence. Rupi Kaur as of this moment has 3.2 million followers. r.h. Sin has 1.4 million followers. Lang Leav by comparison only has 477 thousand followers. Though it seems pale in comparison, these numbers are still hard to achieve and has pushed them all into verified status on the platform. So why does this matter?

Each of these individuals in turn has created a following from nothing on social media writing poetry. More importantly each of them in turn has managed to meld a highly visual platform – Instagram – with a predominantly text-based art.

This use of visual rhetoric has allowed them to not only capture their audiences but bring poetry back into the mainstream.

This newfound popular interest in poetry has led many to wonder why there a resurgence has been. What is it that drew people back in? Some argue that the authors are a main factor, “if you look at the work of Browne, Myers, Kaur and others like them, it’s largely made by women – young women,” powerful young women that many of their readers resonate with because those audiences are young women themselves (Ramanathan). Poetry has moved from a space meant for elites to create only the most perfect poetic imagery to a social experience through visual imagery and shared emotion. The intent to make audiences feel something is still present, yet the means has been tweaked. Instead of seeking out collections of poets have long since died or lived a life of higher academia and unrelatable experiences, audiences can find modern day poets interacting with mediums they already use and sharing snippets of lives that are all too familiar.

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Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric I

Instagram poetry generally follows a few simple patterns. Poems have to fit into the square image field of the Instagram feed. These fields can be supplemented by caption text, but the entire poem must fit within this image square. Rarely do these poems utilize Instagrams new album feature which allows users to insert multiple images into one post, thus allowing users to swipe sideways to unfurl the rest of the visuals. For this reason, Instagram poems are notoriously short. One would be hard pressed to find an Instagram poem with more than five lines, let alone one with multiple stanzas.

Instagram poetry is often referred to as similar to diary entries. For this reason, many find them alluring, and easy to connect to. As New York Times writer Alexandra Alter puts it “their appeal lies in the unpolished flavor of their verses� (Alter). Each poem is short and often extremely straight forward. Standard poetic fare seems to be missing for many as poems do not craft an image for the reader but rather a shared emotional experience. With images being crafted and expressed by the authors to be taken together, there becomes a right way to imagine these linguistic visuals, and they require no imagination at all because it is directly on the screen along with them. Even though the visuals are spoonfed to the readers, this does not eliminate all of the poetic elements at play in these creations.

Often these poems get at deep emotional feelings that they want the readers to connect with.

Rather than expressing these sensitive topics with lengthy metaphor, the new take seemingly yells the feelings into existence. Poetry then becomes, on Instagram and for these new authors at least, a purely visual experience. Instead of crafting a story for readers to dig through and interpret, instead of allowing the readers to imagine and interpret meaning, all of the visuals and interpretations are being laid out together as one image. Thus, Instagram poetry becomes a way of crafting text in a visual manner and the images and writing cannot be separated.

These visuals come in many forms, though two main camps arise. One is that of the doodle artists – renditions of what emotions and visuals the author feels tied in with the poems. Such visuals are often linework drawings and leave a lot of blank space on the page requiring viewers to pay

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attention to the small instances of text, and often dramatic and striking drawings. The other camp being that of dramatically photoshopped visuals. These often include photographs of three-dimensional objects – paper, flowers, hands, books, etc, with text placed into the visuals with the aid of a computer. For these visuals create more of an aesthetic appeal than an interpretation of the actual poem. Even still, by choosing to superimpose these lines onto a carefully crafted image and releasing them in this fashion, authors create a piece of content that cannot be separated and garner the same response.

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Communal Experiences When talking about Instagram Poetry, the concept of communal experience comes into play. Communal experience within internet communities is not a new concept.

Actually there is an extremely prevalent form of media online known as memes. Memes are a form of spreadable media, which are created and altered by various users – which basically means that anyone and everyone can create and perpetuate a meme. Images that are viewed as funny, some form of social commentary, or are otherwise noteworthy are shared, recreated, shared again and eventually spread to the point that many are annoyed by their presence. Instagram Poems, like memes, do not exist in a vacuum, in fact it is exactly the opposite. The way the social internet works equates success with sharing. So for something to be considered successful online, a lot of people should be not just seeing, but interacting with something.

These shared communal experiences are a lot like shared experiences outside of the internet, though often are not connected in the same ways. A meme is a lot like a poster, or a post card. Posters and flyers can be seen plastered everywhere, when people want to make some sort of commentary on them, they alter it. New slightly different posters show up making fun of the originals, or something completely different takes its place. In terms of postcards, they can be found at just about any drug store or corner market all around the world. Though, they are really only worth what they are for the experiences we tie to them. A postcard on a shelf in a store around the corner from your house does not mean much, but a postcard sent from a friend abroad who you have not seen in a while with a heart felt note or silly drawing, or bought as a memory of a trip you took have completely different sentiments.

The object itself does not have the real meaning behind it, but rather the alteration and ascribed meanings do.

This environment of spreadable media online changes the way we have to look at rhetoric surrounding it though as it affects a few things “first, image-objects become constantly remade and remixed, making it difficult to isolate “an” object. Second, contexts also become unstable or difficult to determine, since remaking blurs the roles of rhetoraudience” (Jenkins). Basically, due to the fact that these artifacts are proliferated so much, and audiences becoming rhetors in the alteration and sharing process, there becomes a huge blur between what the origin and motivations behind something were.

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Even if a meme could be tracked back to its source, the over saturation of new meaning from the altered forms permanently change the way people interact with the original.

Many who study memes and internet sharing culture in a rhetorical sense often come back to the topic of modes for which “such a focus acknowledges that rhetorical images are not texts, but bodies endowed with affective capacities; that audiences don't merely “read” texts but interface with them, via their own affective capacities, in a variety of ways” (Jenkins). To this affect, modes come into play at a high level with memes, as users are not just “reading” these artifacts, but interacting with them, creating more and sharing. Jenkins pulls techne into this equation stating that there is a connection between the analysis of mode and techne, “The mode is a manner of seeing, shared by photojournalists and viewers, not just the techné of image-makers or viewers alone…rather than describing the techne of rhetors, modal analysis focuses on how the actual techne cue and enable virtual capacities” (Jenkins). So while creators are making these specific artifacts being shared on the web, what is being seen goes far beyond just the craftsmanship that went into creating that specific object. Instead what is being seen is a much broader picture and understanding cultivated by a shared experience.

To a similar degree, users are not just “reading” Instagram Poetry. For one because Instagram Poetry does not merely refer to the words on the screen but the larger impression of the image and text together – they are melded together into one unit and cannot be separated as they were not intended to be consumed separately – but also because the app creates a space for user interaction. The rhetorical concept of the meaning behind a piece being separate from its intended purpose becomes extremely prevalent in this regard. In a sphere where meaning can be altered in an instant either by the way it is shared, who interacts with it, or how someone physically changes it, the intentions behind something become even more irrelevant.

Burke’s understanding of form comes into play here as “A form is a way of experiencing; and such a form is made available … when, by the use of specific subject-matter, it enables us to experience in this way” (Burke). This concept along with the modal rhetorical analysis of memes shows how form can trigger responses in viewers. These responses help to shape future memes, but also the success of the current ones. In the same manner we could apply this concept to Instagram Poetry.

The form is consistent, or at the very least has some consistencies. In repeating the “liked”

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(in the case of Instagrams the likes are quite literal) aspects and proliferating them into new artifacts, users are primed to react in a certain way. At which point Instagram poetry can almost be codified and broken down into a science of what will actually garner a positive result. This enables poets to create the massive responses they get, but limit the genre of poetry to the distinct properties outlined by the audience, platform, and newly created subgenre by way of this action. As Jenkins puts it “modes are forms, yet they operate at the virtual level, as meta-form, framing the image-objects and ways of seeing alike, limiting and enabling both.” This limiting and enabling factor is something that the artists themselves realize as will, “Even the Instagram poets acknowledge the medium is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, they reach far more people than traditional poets. On the other, Instagram restricts form and length. There also is pressure to constantly feed the beast” (Sovich). This constant pressure to “feed the beast” results in more poorly written poetry, shorter prose, and ultimately drives a wedge between traditional forms of poetry, and this new internet iteration even further.

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Pushback Many of the communal experience properties of Instagram Poetry lead many to not believe in any of its merits. Even with the avid success of these notable Instagram poets, many still push back against it. So much so that multiple headlines have been targeted directly at Kaur, “BuzzFeed ran a piece with the headline, "The Problem with Rupi Kaur's Poetry"; "Instagram Poet Rupi Kaur Seems Utterly Uninterested in Reading Books," declared another, from Deadspin 's the Concourse vertical. "Rupi Kaur: The Inevitable Backlash Against Instagram's Favourite Poet" was the Guardian 's tamer take” (Maher). Just what is it about Instagram Poetry do people not like?

Instagram Poetry’s popularity alone is a major factor as to why the subgenre is not highly regarded. Even within online media spheres, popularity does not equate to success. In fact, often it correlates with the opposite. Memes are a prime example of this phenomena where often times the things that are proliferated are rather negative. People share what elicits a reaction. That reaction may not fall in line with the intent as discussed previously. When the reaction is not what was intended many rhetoricians would argue that a work is not successful because it did not fulfill its job, but if it fulfills some new purpose is it still not successful? Well, if the exact opposite message is now being spread in the form of a meme that work is probably still going to be considered not successful.

Though, it did complete some task of getting users to engage with it.

While Instagram Poetry is great at getting users to engage with the content, it is easy to see just how surface level this engagement really is. Users can leave “likes” on the platform which do not actually mean anything. These likes can send the message that an image has been seen, a user wants to save the image to view it later, they actually hate the content and are passive-aggressively liking it for reasons that still baffle many, or actually like the content. For whatever reasons they may be, these heart-shaped assurances mean very little in the grand scheme of things but people treat them with some value of worth depending on just how many there are.

The comments on Instagram Poetry in and of themselves are interesting to note in this regard as well. Often these comments provide very little substance either attacking the authors outright or showcasing a series of heart emojis for the audience to infer is their love for the poem. This surface level engagement is a primary concern for many regarding the topic of Instagram Poetry, “I do have to applaud these Instagram poets for their ability to draw people in and make money off of this writing, and I am not saying that all of their writing is bad. However, most of the poems posted on their social media accounts, where their audience mostly consumes their product, have little content that does not challenge the reader‘s mind” (Watts). The lack of engagement in any substantial way shows the polarity between the academic setting of learning and challenging students on the topics in poetry, and merely ingesting short visual iterations.

Many often sight lack of skill for the craft of poetry as a reason for disliking the subgenre. Comments made about Rupi easily illustrate this sentiment, “Kaur’s poetry, in

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short, doesn’t meet the usual standard to which poetry is traditionally held. Though a New York Times piece notes that authenticity is, “not, historically, a requirement for poetry,” it’s a sine qua non for Kaur —her poetry is nearly artless” (Rohrbach). In this sense many will give some leeway to the subgenre for creating a gateway for new readers. Though often they are mostly focused on the fact that “few – if any – virtues typically attributed to poetry are to be found” (Rohrbach) in most Instagram Poetry archives.

So how can Instagram Poetry be considered poetry if it does not follow typical poetic standards? To put it simply, it cannot, which is why many dislike the form. Instagram poetry is not about crafting a visual and emotionally provocative text, it is about bluntly putting emotion to words and giving the visuals to go with it, “To poetry traditionalists, these new poets the feeds seem to draw attention to photographs and illustrations rather than verse” (Sovich). By providing the visual aspect alongside the poems, they become inseparable. While meaning can be derived from the poem, and the images on their own, it is not the same meaning as when those two are placed together.

Without the author’s corresponding illustrations, one reasonably could envision something in response, but just as a when told to imagine a dog there is no guarantee everyone envisions the same dog, there is no promise the response triggered in these people is the same as the image itself, or what the image in turn elicits with the words. Images on their own might elicit a response, but without the deeper meaning behind the words associated with them, the emotion might be entirely lost. Black and white doodles of a pile of hands to one person may suggest engagement, to another struggle, and another more horror. When paired with the poems these illustrations are released with the viewer is guided to what is hopefully the intended purpose. By not following the guidelines of standard poetry, and the inability to separate the text from the visual in either written form or image, Instagram Poetry creates a new genre of work nestled somewhere between poetry and graphic design.

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So why do publishers and some academics support Instagram Poetry then? While the new form is subverting the genre, it is also drawing attention back to more traditional forms of media. On the publishing side, the interest is purely monetary, “Editors at the publishing house keep an eye on Instagram. If a writer has a growing following, with comments that speak to the work, the publishing house will occasionally contact a writer directly to see if he or she is interested in doing a book. Booksellers are often reassured by a poetry book with an online followings because it suggests committed buyers” (Sovich). If people are successful online for free, its in the publishing companies’ interests to monetize that success where ever they can. This has a ripple effect where other poets are gaining more attention from this new found interest in poetry. Even if the community as a whole views Instagram poetry as trivial and of poor quality, it does nothing to change consumers’ interests and since consumers’ interests in poetry are skyrocketing, it is only a matter of time before people begin looking outside of the original artists that brought them into the genre. Instagram poetry then becomes a building block for further learning within the genre – if Instagram poetry is considered a part of the genre.

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Visual Poetry Instagram Poets are able to set themselves apart from others in the genre not just in their broadcasting medium, but in the visual style of their poetry. Visual elements in poetry are not entirely new, Shel Silverstein’s collections included imagery as well.

Though, Shel’s poetry was aimed at a rather different audience and aesthetically is rather different from many Instagram poets who often incorporate three-dimensional elements, art prints, photography, living flowers, and in some cases more delicate line work almost reminiscent of Shel’s work.

The incorporation of these visual elements lifts Instagram poetry out of what would merely be considered purely epideictic work to including what is known as visual rhetoric. By analyzing the visual and communicative elements of Instagram poetry together a greater dimensional understanding can be obtained. In doing this a rhetorical perspective is taken on particular Instagram poetry posts which then become artifacts. These artifacts being viewed from a rhetorical perspective “constitutes a particular way of viewing images – a set of conceptual lenses through which visual symbols become knowable as communicative or rhetorical phenomena” (Foss).

Viewing Instagram as rhetoric is rather different than what might be its intended purpose. Though, in terms of visual rhetoric this does not particularly matter. In fact, Sonja K. Foss would argue that even if no one was ever meant to see something, it still has rhetorical qualities because the intended impression does not matter, the actual impressions do - “function is not synonymous with purpose” (Foss). A major aspect of visual rhetorical perspective comes from assessing the audience of a piece along with the artifact itself. So, in tying in how the audience responds to Instagram Poetry, and understanding from Foss that intention is not what matters most, it is clear to see how vital it is to pay attention to the whole picture. If the images impact lay viewers’ impressions of the poetry, and lay viewers’ “responses to visual artifacts are assumed to be constructed on the basis of viewers; own experiences and knowledge” (Foss) it makes logical sense that viewers are more likely to resonate or respond in some way to the form of poetry. Within this sense, Instagram poetry can be assessed for its use of visual forms, and the visual platform that it is on to get a better understanding of how the genre has been shaped and revitalized through the new social medium.

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Many would argue against studying visuals as a form of rhetoric, though much like Kenney and Scott argue in their work “Persuasive Imagery: A Consumer Response Perspective” many of these notions are rooted in some outdated views. Kenney and Scott utilize Burke to make a point that connects with Visual Rhetoric in regards to Instagram Poetry rather heavily: “the one producing any rhetorical text will select from among a range of options the word, tone, color, view, or tune that he or she feels is most likely to have the desired effect among the intended audience. Obviously, that “effect” depends on the accurate communication of the intended meaning, as well as other rhetorical possibilities such as being pleasing to the eye.

Because each visual view of an object necessarily excludes some or all of the other views … then all pictures are unavoidably selective and, therefore, irretrievably rhetorical” (Kenney and Scott).

Instagram poetry acutely follows this means of visual poetry – while standard images fall within the grounds of seeing only parts of an image, or the specific lighting, etc, Instagram Poetry visuals are entirely crafted for the sole purpose of being shared in this way.

So why do people argue against the study of visual rhetoric? Kenney and Scott outline the main arguments as follows: “1. That pictures cannot make arguments, particularly those in which there are both a premise and a conclusion (see Birdsell & Groarke, 1996; Fleming, 1996).

2. That pictures cannot point out the weaknesses in another argument (see Lake & Pickering, 1998).

3. That pictures cannot be discursive, cannot engage in debate. …

[4] Words are processed sequentially, whereas visuals are processed ‘all at once’ (see Hart, 1997, for discussion).

[5] Visuals must be translated into words before they can be understood” (Kenney and Scott).

While an image might not be able to point out the weaknesses in another argument immediately, this is not to say that it would be impossible. Though, here the idea of intent and meaning comes into play. While intent often does not matter in rhetoric – because the subject will infer meaning anyway they please – if the aim of a visual is not to engage in debate but to persuade in a different way, then they are still rhetorically viable. .

The concept here of visuals being processed all at once and needing to be translated to be understood is interesting in regards to Instagram Poetry. Due to the nature of Instagram Poetry, there are both text and visual elements at play. While a cursory glance may retrieve this ‘all at once’ response, it is impossible to take in all of the information at once due to the text based elements. While taking in the meanings and words from the text based elements, the meanings and reactions to the images become skewed, just as the inferences of the text themselves is altered by that initial image. In

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this way the text and image cannot be severed and Instagram Poetry creates a space for visual and textual based rhetoric to exist in the same instance rather than as two separate pieces working together.

Rupi Kaur has a background in visual rhetoric, so it comes as no surprise that her Instagram feed is perfectly tailored. In growing her fanbase on the site, Kaur was originally noticed not for her poetry, but a visual rhetoric assignment while in University. In 2015 Kaur posted an image of her laying down with a visual blood stain both on her pants and the bed she was positioned on. The image was given a lot of attention for its Feminist impact and eventually the poetry was noticed as well (Rao).

Kaur acknowledges the Visual Rhetoric elements of her work and has even talked about how it effects the way people interact with her posts, “How something is designed impacts the reader experience so much," she said. “For me, keeping it symmetrical by having no uppercase [letters] kind of brought ease to the design elements that I like —very simple and minimalist” (Rao).

There is nothing new to this concept of design impacting the reader’s experience, it is a major focus of usability studies and visual rhetoric as a whole.

Though, “rhetoricians largely lack sophisticated understanding of the conventions through which meaning is created in visual artifacts and the processes by which they influence viewers,” (Foss) or in other words, there is still much to be known about just how important Visual Rhetoric is and how much of an impact it has. The study as a whole though is still expanding and Kaur’s attention to the visual in her work is a prime example of how visual rhetoric can be used and how we can further study it.

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Artifact Analysis As previously stated, the two main artifacts for this research paper are commonly known Instagram Poetry accounts @rupikaur_ and @wilderpoetry. Each of these two accounts has over 200,000 followers and post consistently, garnering thousands of likes and comments daily. These artifacts will be analyzed for their use of visual rhetoric in showcasing their poetry to develop a sense of how Instagram poetry has developed out of the general artistic and epideictic forms it originated in.

Scattered throughout this document have been images to of works by these two artists to illustrate some of the methods and cultural interest in the Instagram Poets. Each has thousands of interactions, some showcase comments left by other users and Instagram poets, and some even reflect pushes to merchandise. Each of these images shows the Visual Rhetorical elements at play in them on their own, but to illustrate these points the following will include an analysis of a few more selected works by these two artists.

Each of these works will be analyzed following concepts of visual rhetoric explored

by Foss, and methods of how to rhetorically analyze images explained by Kate SamsellWillmann. Foss describes visual rhetoric as having three pillars that frame it being definition, the areas of focus, and approaches to the actual study. While Foss illustrates the differences between inductive and deductive approaches to the actual study, she also acutely defines visual rhetoric, “to mean both a visual object or artifact and a perspective on the study of visual data. In the first sense, visual rhetoric is a product individuals create as they use visual symbols for the purpose of communicating. In the second, it is a perspective scholars apply that focuses on the symbolic processes by which visual artifacts perform communication” (Foss).

By this definition both the artifacts throughout this paper and the discussion of them have constituted visual rhetoric. So how are these artifacts going to be analyzed? Kate Samsell-Willmann discusses a concept of photograph-as-text approach in her work “Student-Centered Reading of Lewis Hine’s Photographs” where the primary question arises: how did someone “make this image to accomplish that goal?” (Samsell-Willmann).

While the goal in any scenario can be pretty ambiguous, the process still stands. For each image a patron and purpose must be identified, the location of the photographer, lighting conditions, inclusions and exclusions, and captions and titles should all be taken into account as well for how it sculpts the broader image. For each Instagram Poetry selection, each of these aspects in turn will be addressed.

Works by Rupi Kaur represent the hand drawn iterations of Instagram Poetry – works entirely crafted by the artist from nothing, while W I L D E R’s showcases the means of photography and computer aided manipulation at play in the visual rhetorical sphere.

Each of these artists has been able to craft a following based off of their chosen aesthics, words, and combined rhetorical statements which leaves much to be explored. For Rupi

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Kaur one Instagram poem is being explored that has found its way into her book “The Sun and Her Flowers.” For W I L D E R, one image will be explored of a painted hand.

Rupi Kaur

Description: poem that reads (there are far too many mouths here / but not enough of them are worth / what you’re offering / give yourself to a few / and to those few / give heavily // invest in the right people – rupi kaur) visual of a pile of line work hands all grasping up at the sky in the shape of a small mound caption (learning to say no. / learning to conserve my energy. / learning to hounor and protect what inspires me. / Page 205 from #thesunandherflowers) When looking at invest in the right people

by Kaur, the first thing that draws you in are the hands. This intricate drawing of palms and forearms suggests a pile of wanting and is relatively ambiguous. Without further details, one might be hard pressed to assume a meaning out of this visual. Upon further inspection, the image includes that of a six line poem.

The obvious question is: what is the message Rupi is trying to make by illustrating a pile of grasping hands? How does that compare to the message we perceive from it?

One might connect this back to the poem itself, where the grasping hands represent the far too many mouths. At which point the question of what isn’t being seen comes into play. Rupi specifically chooses to show the viewer a pile of grasping hands rather than open mouths. Where a mouth might represent need and sustenance, the grabbing hands indicate a darker interpretation of taking and not needing. The image alone seems almost desperate, a pile of hands reaching out. The image connected to the text seems aggressive, as if to represent some other that the poem aims to warn the reader of. The poetic metaphor of referring to people as body parts is not lost in this instance but draws more attention to the aspects that are missing: the rest of the body. Which in turn pushes the reader into further interpretation of the poem.

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In the other direction this sentiment is found too. Rupi’s purpose here is explained in these lines of poetry, and the image is a supplement meant to help guide the reader to that end goal. Without these hands here, the poem seems far less urgent. The interpretation is less of a warning and more of some fleeting light-hearted advice.

Though, what do readers interpret from this image? Often readers take Rupi’s style of minimalist black and white and all lowercase writing rather negatively: “lowercase letters, simple language, variable line breaks, and a lack of punctuation —elicits cheeky parodies and harsh criticism left as comments on her posts —one simply reads, “This is garbage."” (Rao) So does Kaur succeed in her purpose? It is hard to tell. Without knowing explicitly what her goals were, there is no real way of knowing if she achieved them. Though, by taking the title and captions into effect, it becomes clear to the reader that this image might not have been to persuade or warn others, but was intended to be a reminder to herself. At which case, Foss’s argument that even if an image was only intended for oneself it still utilizes rhetoric comes into play.

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Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric I

WILDER

Description: Poem that reads (come, // lay with me. / I am not afraid of your dark.)

Visual of a photographed hand and wrist. Palms and fingers are painted black with small stars and moon painted within.

When looking at this image, the eye is drawn to the deep black shade painted onto the palm of the hand. The colors of the picture are all dull, and the mood is rather somber because of this. At first glance, the scene painted on the hand is rather distinct – a night sky. Often night skies are associated with depth, and possibilities.

Though when combined with the text of the poem, this idea seems to shift.

By stating I am not afraid of your dark, the poem seems to suggest that this other, the reader, is carrying some kind of burden, weight, baggage with them. That baggage is literally personified as “dark” and by means of this image is transferred to the color on this individual’s skin.

This image in turn makes the reader understand the poem a bit further. This “dark” is not merely some negative aspect of another person, but something that can be transferred, something that can affect another person. It also seems to have some depth and beauty to it judging by the painting on the hand that is in no way expressed by the poem.

Though, neither the poem or the image seem to directly refer to one another. The image is shot in a way that excludes the rest of the body, casts a very specific shadow in order to create a soft, somber, and slightly welcoming atmosphere. While the poem also manages to create this same welcoming note in a completely different way. Though, the image has no reference to laying down as the poem does. The hand may suggest an out stretched palm of the one who wrote the poem, inviting in more darkness because they themselves have found a light in the dark. Or it may suggest the hand of the person they are referring to curling away from this new connection or even being vulnerable to share this darkness.

These multiple interpretations are exacerbated by the sheer number of things that are excluded from this image. The poem itself has no title, but a single caption which reads “goodnight moon. goodnight you.” Is this reference to the fact that this hand is the

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other person? Or is the author trying to draw a connection between the light in the dark of the moon and the person they are talking to? Perhaps it is a way to point someone toward that light in the dark. Though, it becomes clear here that without the other element an entire aspect of the visual is lost. The hand on its own becomes an aesthetic. One might interpret it as someone grabbing a piece of the nights sky. While the poem seems inviting the subtlties of the moon imagery are completely devoid leaving the reader with no view of how the dark plays into the meaning.

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Instagram Poetry as Visual Rhetoric I

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Kenney & Scott. “Persuasive Imagery: A Consumer Response Perspective.” Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Mahwah; New Jersey. 2003. P. 17-49.

Freedman, Morris. “Poetry, Dead or Alive - Education Week.” Education Week, Apr. 2000. Education Week, https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2000/04/26/33freedman.h19.html.

Foss, Sonja K. “Defining Visual Rhetorics.” Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publisher, Mahwah; New Jersey. 2004, p 303-313.

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“Poets of Instagram: How Social Media Is Making Poetry Hip Again.” The Hindustan Times; New Delhi, 7 Oct. 2016. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1826396815/citation/3E44CE6B425F470A PQ/1.

Rao, Sonia. “Few Read Poetry, but Millions Read Rupi Kaur.” Boston Globe; Boston, Mass., 11 Oct. 2017, p. G.1.

Rohrbach, Paul. “Rupi Kaur’s poetry needs workshopping.” Cavalier Daily. University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA. Oct 2017.

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Wexler, Bruce. “Poetry Is Dead. Does Anybody Really Care?” Newsweek; New York, vol. 141, no. 18, May 2003, p. 18.

W I L D E R. Instagram. Retrieved Dec 2018.

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