Periodic Reporting for period 4 - PoetryDA (Poetry in the Digital Age)
Période du rapport: 2025-07-01 au 2025-12-31
“Poetry in the Digital Age” (acronym: PoetryDA), led by PI Prof. Dr. Claudia Benthien at the University of Hamburg (2021-2025), analyzed contemporary poetry and its multi-facetted forms of medial presentation. It developed tools, methods, and theories to analyze today’s multifaceted poetry formats, from pop culture to works of literary art, by scrutinizing their forms and sites of presentation; ranging from the theater stage to social media, from the written page to urban space. The Project negotiated the following questions: What factors have contributed to poetry’s current popularity? What is the best way to systemize its sub-genres? What new methods and theories are required to analyze them? How do entertainment and “high” culture contrast with each other, interact, or mix? What are the aesthetic, cultural, social, and political functions of these new forms and modes of presentation?
(1) Sub-Project 1 “Audioliterary Poetry between Performance and Mediatization” examined live poetry performance created through the co-presence of audience and performer, as well as the mediatization of performed poetry, situated in and framed by a media landscape transformed by digitalization, as well as contemporary audio and sound poetry. To investigate audio-literary poetry, its performance and mediatization, researchers with backgrounds in media studies, performance studies, psychology, and literary studies collaborated. The team consisted of Postdoc Henrik Wehmeier and PhD students Marc Matter and Clara Cosima Wolff.
(2) Sub-Project 2 “Music(alization) and the Lyric: Recent Medial Correlations” inquired into the impact of digitalization on musical poetry. It examined poets who collaborate with musicians and sound artists, who manipulate their voice by technology or use synthesized voices in their performances. Of interest were also genres between music and poetry, such as contemporary forms of the art song, as well as performance styles in between speaking and singing, such as rap. The team comprised researchers from sound studies, musicology, and speech communication studies. The research associates were Postdoc Vadim Keylin and PhD students Rebecka Dürr and Kira Henkel.
(3) Sub-Project 3 “Poetry and Contemporary Visual Culture” investigated (audio-)visual poetry. It inter alia dealt with code poetry, poetry films, and visual poetry in social media and urban spaces and explored the connection between experimental visual poetry formats and pressing social issues such as human-machine relations or the advancing climate catastrophe. The team included researchers with expertise in literary studies, visual culture studies, comparative media studies, and film studies. Postdocs Wiebke Vorrath and Antje Schmidt collaborated with PhD students Anna Hofman and Magdalena E. Korecka.
(1) Sub-Project 1 “Audioliterary Poetry between Performance and Mediatization” examined live poetry performance created through the co-presence of audience and performer, as well as the mediatization of performed poetry, situated in and framed by a media landscape transformed by digitalization, as well as contemporary audio and sound poetry. To investigate audio-literary poetry, its performance and mediatization, researchers with backgrounds in media studies, performance studies, psychology, and literary studies collaborated. The team consisted of Postdoc Henrik Wehmeier and PhD students Marc Matter and Clara Cosima Wolff.
(2) Sub-Project 2 “Music(alization) and the Lyric: Recent Medial Correlations” inquired into the impact of digitalization on musical poetry. It examined poets who collaborate with musicians and sound artists, who manipulate their voice by technology or use synthesized voices in their performances. Of interest were also genres between music and poetry, such as contemporary forms of the art song, as well as performance styles in between speaking and singing, such as rap. The team comprised researchers from sound studies, musicology, and speech communication studies. The research associates were Postdoc Vadim Keylin and PhD students Rebecka Dürr and Kira Henkel.
(3) Sub-Project 3 “Poetry and Contemporary Visual Culture” investigated (audio-)visual poetry. It inter alia dealt with code poetry, poetry films, and visual poetry in social media and urban spaces and explored the connection between experimental visual poetry formats and pressing social issues such as human-machine relations or the advancing climate catastrophe. The team included researchers with expertise in literary studies, visual culture studies, comparative media studies, and film studies. Postdocs Wiebke Vorrath and Antje Schmidt collaborated with PhD students Anna Hofman and Magdalena E. Korecka.
The Project identified significant new and expanded functions of poetry in the digital age. It appears more and more in social and political contexts, as the PI and sociologist Gestring show: wall poems, audio walks, and poetry installations in public spaces negotiate issues of urban politics, gentrification, and topics such as social inequality. Moreover, poetry reflects the digitalization of society and the effects of AI and language processing, as Keylin studied on the examples of digital oral poetry. PoetryDA further investigated the role of poetry in such diverse contexts as disability advocacy (Wolff), Anthropocene studies (Schmidt) or social media activism (Korecka).
PoetryDA has introduced new tools for analyzing poetry beyond the traditional book format. These include, e.g. the methods of film analysis, multimodal analysis, and performance analysis. The Project employed qualitative methods like research interviews, media ethnography and netnography. Such methods were used to, for example, ask poets about their use of digital sound technologies (Matter) or to investigate participatory practices such as commenting and sharing poetry on social media platforms (Keylin, Korecka).
The key research findings are systematized in “Poetry in the Digital Age: An Interdisciplinary Handbook” (2025), edited by Benthien, Keylin, and Wehmeier. The Handbook brings together research questions, approaches, topics, and methods from the Project team as well as its broad scientific network. Its four parts (a) adapt established concepts of poetry theory, (b) reflect on new genres and formats of poetry, (c) present interdisciplinary methodologies and new fields of research, and (d) address current debates in research.
The project has established the peer-reviewed open-access book series “Poetry in the Digital Age,” edited by the PI that introduces novel research objects, theories, and methods. To date, two monographs by the PoetryDA team have been published in the series, with seven more to appear in 2026/27. All deal with new research topics using novel interdisciplinary approaches.
In addition, each of the three Sub-Projects published an anthology on its subject area and Schmidt compiled a further volume addressing the entanglements between the human, technological, and natural spheres in the 21st century in poetry. The series showcases not only the research results of the Project but also external volumes that bring PoetryDA into dialog with international poetry scholarship (manuscripts from Norway, Sweden, France, and Estonia have been acquired so far).
PoetryDA has developed three forms of knowledge transfer: (a) the public event series “Poetry Debates” that initiated discussions about poetry in the digital era; (b) the curation of the Project’s Instagram profile by a poet twice a year; (c) a series of micro videos on the question “Why Poetry?” on Instagram.
PoetryDA has introduced new tools for analyzing poetry beyond the traditional book format. These include, e.g. the methods of film analysis, multimodal analysis, and performance analysis. The Project employed qualitative methods like research interviews, media ethnography and netnography. Such methods were used to, for example, ask poets about their use of digital sound technologies (Matter) or to investigate participatory practices such as commenting and sharing poetry on social media platforms (Keylin, Korecka).
The key research findings are systematized in “Poetry in the Digital Age: An Interdisciplinary Handbook” (2025), edited by Benthien, Keylin, and Wehmeier. The Handbook brings together research questions, approaches, topics, and methods from the Project team as well as its broad scientific network. Its four parts (a) adapt established concepts of poetry theory, (b) reflect on new genres and formats of poetry, (c) present interdisciplinary methodologies and new fields of research, and (d) address current debates in research.
The project has established the peer-reviewed open-access book series “Poetry in the Digital Age,” edited by the PI that introduces novel research objects, theories, and methods. To date, two monographs by the PoetryDA team have been published in the series, with seven more to appear in 2026/27. All deal with new research topics using novel interdisciplinary approaches.
In addition, each of the three Sub-Projects published an anthology on its subject area and Schmidt compiled a further volume addressing the entanglements between the human, technological, and natural spheres in the 21st century in poetry. The series showcases not only the research results of the Project but also external volumes that bring PoetryDA into dialog with international poetry scholarship (manuscripts from Norway, Sweden, France, and Estonia have been acquired so far).
PoetryDA has developed three forms of knowledge transfer: (a) the public event series “Poetry Debates” that initiated discussions about poetry in the digital era; (b) the curation of the Project’s Instagram profile by a poet twice a year; (c) a series of micro videos on the question “Why Poetry?” on Instagram.
The research advanced the field beyond the state of the art due to its interdisciplinary methodology. So far, poetry has been mainly investigated from a literary studies perspective; the Project’s central aim was an expansion of that approach. Therefore, the researchers both worked in transdisciplinary teams and employed interdisciplinary methods in their individual studies. One example is Dürr’s research on poetry readings, spoken word, and rap that is rooted in speech communication studies and integrates approaches from drama and literary studies.
The second characteristics of PoetryDA was its incorporation of very recent materials: e.g. political activist platformized poetry researched by Korecka, musical compositions based on contemporary poetry researched by Henkel, or LLM generated poetry researched by Benthien, Keylin, and Vorrath. Wehmeier’s research, e.g. examined the media circulation of poetry: poetry slam performances on YouTube, the livestreaming of readings, the presentation of poetry collections on TikTok but also digital interfaces in printed poetry.
Poetry as a medium for cultural critique has become more important than envisioned. For instance, the main hypothesis of the book on “Poetry and Contemporary Visual Culture” was that poetry holds considerable potential for (post-)digital language, image, and media criticism. Exemplary topics are Hofman’s research on Jewish identity in recent poetry films or Wolff’s research investigating strategies of barrier reductions in performance poetry. The PI has investigated the “critique of digitality” in page poetry, e.g. regarding the social consequences of addiction to digital media or environmental consequences caused by digital infrastructures.
The second characteristics of PoetryDA was its incorporation of very recent materials: e.g. political activist platformized poetry researched by Korecka, musical compositions based on contemporary poetry researched by Henkel, or LLM generated poetry researched by Benthien, Keylin, and Vorrath. Wehmeier’s research, e.g. examined the media circulation of poetry: poetry slam performances on YouTube, the livestreaming of readings, the presentation of poetry collections on TikTok but also digital interfaces in printed poetry.
Poetry as a medium for cultural critique has become more important than envisioned. For instance, the main hypothesis of the book on “Poetry and Contemporary Visual Culture” was that poetry holds considerable potential for (post-)digital language, image, and media criticism. Exemplary topics are Hofman’s research on Jewish identity in recent poetry films or Wolff’s research investigating strategies of barrier reductions in performance poetry. The PI has investigated the “critique of digitality” in page poetry, e.g. regarding the social consequences of addiction to digital media or environmental consequences caused by digital infrastructures.