Digital technology is influencing every subject within academia in numerous ways, but it is also pushing society to reinvent the art of poetry. Lori Emerson, an Assistant Professor in CU’s English Department, discussed in her Teaching with Technology presentation how technology is influencing poetry and how she presents this unique art form to her students. Digital poetry takes a unique approach to writing as it is a form of electronic literature that is not restricted to the same rules as the traditional form.
Last semester, Dr. Emerson taught two courses, Introduction to Digital Media in the Humanities and Topics in Advanced Theory: Digital Poetry, about this subject. In the movement of digital poetry, the writing does not follow the traditional rule of being bounded by a flat piece of paper; the artists of today are creating work that redefines society’s traditional perception of the subject. These creations are more interactive as it allows the reader to travel along their own paths within work and come up with their own meaning of the work.  Each person has a different interpretation of the poem because the lines of the poem are in a moving space that one navigates based on their own intuition using a mouse. Here are some links to website with digital poetry and . Both contain examples of how the face of poetry is being changed because of technology.
In her classes, Emerson emphasizes to her students the influence of technology on poetry as it pushes people to the limits of interpretation. To provide students with a thorough education about the subject, the final project of her two classes tests their understanding of the material through either a translation or a creation of their own digital poem. Both of these assignments encourage the students to fully delve into the material through learning by doing. The art of digital poetry is very complex, meaning it requires a fine-tuned understanding of the material through close reading and active engagement.
Through her classes, Emerson encourages her students to re-evaluate their perceptions of poetry through demonstrating the intersection of this art form and technology.
