Kinetic and Interactive Poetry- Elayna
In Chapter 5, of Electronic Literature by Scott Rettberg, we dive deeper into the newer genre of kinetic and interactive poetry! Rettberg states that "Kinetic and interactive poetry explore the specific multimedia capacities of the contemporary computer as a poetic environment for both composition and reception." (Rettberg, Digital Literature). We are introduced to a variety of different types of poetry within this chapter; some important ones being kinetic, interactive and multimedia. One thing they all have in common between all of these is that "These forms of digital poetry have rich relationships with antecedent movements, particularly those that are concerned with the materiality of the text as image, with granularity of language, and with the relationship between poetry, sound, and music." (Rettberg, Digital Literature). I personally love reading poetry, it is one of my favorite genres of literature and love the added feature of interactiveness through this digital genre!
The piece I decided to a closer look at is called "dear e.e." by Lori Janis & Ingrid Ankerson. I really like this piece of interactive poetry and how it starts off with a few lines of what they dreamt, paired with a chaotic interactive background. You read a few lines, and then the screen starts going crazy with what I imagine is their dream/ what they saw in this dream. At the top there is a button to "wake up", which essentially pulls you out of this state of sleep and prompts another paragraph to read. This paragraph was interesting, and I believe their is a deeper meaning however I haven't figured it out yet.
I also read "dear e.e" and couldn't quite figure out what it all meant, especially the paragraph in the "wake up" section, as you mentioned. Although maybe that is the point, perhaps it is just supposed to be chaotic and not really have a meaning. This seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout the different genres of digital literature.
ReplyDeleteI love this analysis! I think that the dream state is a representation of how it feels to read the poetry of E.E. Cummings. His writing is frantic and slightly incoherent, which stylistically matches the vibe that the Flash project gives off.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your take on kinetic poetry, I agree on many aspects. I agree that this genre of digital poetry adds certain elements and themes that are not present in traditional literature.
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