Poetry vs Hyperpoetry: Difference and Comparison

Literature represents the tradition and culture of people or a language. Literature works as a blueprint of society by portraying every angle of society. Poetry is a popular form of literature that is a vast subject.

In modern days hyper poetry is getting popular as a form of literature. Poetry and hyper poetry have several different features that make them distinct from each other.

Key Takeaways

1. Poetry is a form of literary expression that uses rhythm, language, and aesthetics to evoke emotions and convey ideas.
2. Hyperpoetry is a digital or multimedia form of poetry incorporating interactive elements, visual effects, and multimedia components.
3. Traditional poetry relies solely on words, while hyper-poetry expands the medium by incorporating technology and additional sensory elements.

Poetry vs Hyperpoetry

Poetry is a traditional form of writing that uses verse and structure to create meaning and emotion. Hyperpoetry is a digital tool and platform of writing that incorporates multimedia elements like sound, images, and links to make it interactive and non-linear for readers to explore.

Poetry has a very rich and long history that evolved in different times in different places in the world. Many poets have contributed to the expressive, utilitarian, and linguistic qualities of their languages.

In modern times with a globalized environment poets adapt techniques, styles, and forms from diverse languages and cultures. 

Hyperpoetry is called cyber poetry, digital poetry, and e-poetry as it is only available on the web. It is a new form of poetry that uses hyperlinks, visual effects, sound effects, and other digital visual arts.

Hyperpoetry is an individual genre of modern poetry that is divided into mainly two subgenres- hypertext poetry, which is poetry beyond text, and interactive poetry.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Poetry	Hyperpoetry
Definition	Poetry refers to a literary work that intensely expresses ideas and feelings by the use of rhythm and distinctive style.	Hyperpoetry is poetry written in the web version with hypertext.
Medium	Paper-based medium.	Digital medium.
Invention	In prehistoric times. The Mesopotamia civilization has the earliest evidence of poetry.      The 80s of the 20th century.	Hyperpoetry is invented in modern times with the advent of the internet all over the world.
Contents	Words.	Along with the worlds, there are hyperlinks, sound effects, visual effects, and so on.
The imagination of the reader	Wide.	Somehow narrowed.

What is Poetry?

According to William Wordsworth, poetry refers to the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions and feelings that is recollected in tranquility. It is the finer spirit and breath of all knowledge.

Ruskin Bond gave a view of poetry as a suggestion by the noble ground’s imagination for noble emotions. Robert Frost described poetry as the reflection of emotion and thought in the form of words. 

Poetry is one of the oldest literary forms which has been practiced for almost 4000 years. Poetry is written for expressing emotions, creating imagery, and sharing ideas, like the other literary forms.

The earliest evidence of poetry came from the Mesopotamian civilization. Enheduanna, a Sumerian woman is considered to be the first poet known by name.

Civilizations like Vedic civilization, Roman civilization have also evidence of poetry in their literature.

One of the most important features of poetry is the rhythm. In poetry, the rhythm of each line is arranged in a specific meter. Different types of meters have specific values and roles in Early European, Classical, Modern, and Eastern poetry.

Some poets have strict meters which have specific meter, for instance, the Sonnets of Shakespeare have ten syllables in each line in iambic pentameter.

The most important aspect of poetry is the usage of language. For conveying an emotional message poets have to carefully choose words that can express their emotions in fewer words.

The soul of poetry is to describe the intangible. Poetry is written to express someone’s emotion, feelings, and imagination. 

What is Hyperpoetry?

Hyperpoetry refers to digital poetry that uses hypertext mark-up links. This type of poetry is in a visual form and is related to visual arts and hypertext fiction. It is found in the online medium. This is why it is also known as cyber poetry. 

Hyperpoetry has hyperlinks that redirect readers to a website or a sub-poem which have images, sounds, and movements. Hyper poetry is not limited to words, it is visual poetry that has visual effects and sounds on it.

It gives a visual presentation to the reader. Though hyper poetry may consist of words, but not necessarily organized into stanzas and lines. 

Hyperpoetry is an asynchronous multi-theme moving poetry that opens a new way of reading words that are constantly rearranging. The scrolling lines of the hyper poetry start altogether.

But the lines get out of sync very quickly for the different lengths of the lines. Readers can read different parts of the poem at their will as the motion is slow. 

For a long time, poetry was alienated among the academic curriculums and some poetry lovers. Not everyone interacts with this literature.

The advent of the internet has popularized the visual arts and the introduction of hyper poetry has made poetry popular among people.

Main Differences Between Poetry and Hyperpoetry

1. Poetry refers to a literary work that intensely expresses ideas and feelings by the use of rhythm and distinctive style. On the other hand, hyper poetry is poetry written in the web version with hypertext.
2. Poetry publishes on offline or paper mediums, whereas, hyper poetry publishes on the online medium.
3. The invention of poetry is much earlier compared to hyper poetry. Poetry was invented in prehistoric times. The Mesopotamia civilization has the earliest evidence of poetry. On the contrary, hyper poetry is the modern poetry form that was invented in the 80s of the 20th century.
4. Poetry consists of words, on the other hand, along with the world, there are hyperlinks, sound effects, visual effects in hyper poetry.
5. The imagination power of a traditional poetry reader is wide, whereas the imagination power of a hyper poetry reader is limited as the poetry visualizes to the reader in the forms of animations, effects.

References

1. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=what+is+poetry&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DXt5OmoCTA5MJ
2. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=what+is+hyperpoetry&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DuTbEH4Zg-KwJ

Last Updated : 19 July, 2023