E-Poetry Readings

The more e-poems I watched, the more I got excited about this project. There’s an endless amount of creativity that goes into the creation of these and the meaning that can be conveyed by the poem at hand is entirely up to the video creator, which is awesome. I always disliked reading poems growing up because of the vagueness that encompasses them and the idea that they’re always open to interpretation (I’m a very “this is the answer” kind of guy). The concept of e-poems has opened my mind a little bit because I feel like now the poems have a select meaning that is trying to be emphasized to the audience.  Whether that be conveyed through imagery, sound, music, tone, etc., the video uniquely influences how the poem comes across to readers/viewers. At the same time, videos created can still be vague and open to a variety of interpretations, if this is what the creator seeks. This power to tell a story the way that you envision it – regardless of what the poem literally reads – is what entices me most about this project.

Video poems make words come to life and can also bring more meaning to the words than if they were just written on a page. The video poem "Like the water" really stuck out to me because the creator was able to use video effects of water to correlate with the words in the poem, which I feel brought the poem to life. The music that went along with the poem gave it a feeling of calmness and serenity that helped with the meaning of the poem. Video poems to me bring more detail to a poem than traditional poems and are more entertaining. 

The concept of e-poetry really brings a whole new dimension to the reading and understanding of poems. In high school, it often took weeks to dissect the true meaning of the words on the page. The use of video poetry could really change the way children in grade school learn about poetry, such as the having the words on the screen, in addition to a helpful image or clip playing behind it to demonstrate the true meaning of the poem. In contrast, e-poerty can add more complexity to a poem as well, such as playing incompatible music or images behind what seems to be a straight forward poem, therefore requiring the viewer/reader to interpret the true meaning of the poem. Digital poetry adds a higher level of creativity that I am excited to delve into during this project. 

I really enjoyed watching several of these video poems. The video clips and music that accompanied the words helped me to better understand what the author may have been writing about. Although I realize that these are  someone's interpretation of the poem (and may not portray exactly what the author intended) I felt I could better understand the content as well as feel the emotions of the text. When watching these, I actually found myself smiling or feeling sad, which rarely happened when reading text poems in previous classes. I also liked that I could watch watch these in such a short period of time. Being able to not only read, but also see, the content of the poem allowed me to interpret it quicker than if I was reading it alone. The only downside I see is that the video poems may hinder one's unique interpretation. 

E-Poetry brings forth a new dimension to words. It is beautiful because an author can interpret words in anyway they please. Whether be giving  movement to normal letters in the poem "drip", or concretely associate positive and negative emotions to a sentence. For instance when the creator used crashing wave, dark colors, and the contrast of gentle drips. I like how if you watch an E-Poem without its words, the meaning can drastically change and vise-versa. I would probably do my E-Poem on a more vague topic because poems involving nature tend to be more easily interpreted. 

Each video poem was different and unique in its own way. My experience with each one varied so I think judging videos poems will can be a very difficult task. The subjective nature of the pieces means that every video poem will impact a multiple viewers on different scales. What might be amazing to one can be bland to another. I would like to know more about the qualities that can distinguish a good video poem from a subpar one. 

Video poems help the audience understand the meaning behind poems because it can focus the audience's attention to important parts of the poem. Also, the video creator is able to contribute to the content and influence the audience’s interpretation of the poem by adding their own video, pictures, and music. In the video poem “Like the Water” the videos and music were able to contribute to the tranquil and soothing atmosphere. I thought it was interesting that the creator of the video decided to use videos associated with water even though the poem is talking about love. This is a good example of how the video creator can add complexity to the poem by not giving away the underlying meaning of the poem and allowing the audience to interpret the poem for themselves.

I was surprised to see all of the different genres/forms that E-Poetry can take. Poetry on its own can be extremely vague and adopt many different interpretations, and I see E-poetry as a way for the author/designer to direct the reader to look at a poem in a particular way. For example, in the poetry video "Like the water," the words of the poem alone could produce a variety of interpretations from the reader. However, the inclusion of soothing shots of water droplets and soft music produced a thoughtful tone by which the audience was forced to consider the commonalities between water and love. On the other hand, if the producer had elected to play a fast hip-hop beat accompanying a club-like video, the audience would take away a very different interpretation of the poem. 

My opinion of E-Poetry as a form of artistic expression is that it definitely allows the author to give the reader a more specific sense of what they were intending them to picture while reading the poem. Video poems such as "Like the water" allow the author to perfect set the mood, so to speak, of the words of the poem which are often vague in meaning. I thought that adding the video and music in the background of "Like the water" definitely complemented the poem and made reading a more rewarding experience. I feel like the effectiveness of an E-Poem is very dependent on the content and structure of the poem - a poem that is relatively simple in structure like this one benefits greatly from the added visuals and music in my opinion. However, a more complex or vague poem with added music and visuals might be too much for the observer to take in and get a real sense of the meaning behind the poem. 

As someone who wasn't aware of E-poetry at all before these readings, I find it interesting how many different varieties there are and how many different forms it can take. It goes beyond regular poetry in its ability to sway the reader towards certain aspects of the poem through video clips or text effects. By doing so, the writer of the poem can ensure that their message is seen in the way that they intended. On the other hand, in clips similar to "Like the Water", artists can simply reinforce the words of the poem without making any bold statements, and use videography to increase the emotional power of the work. The combination of different types of E-poetry and the contrasting options for background video allow those who write e-poetry to achieve a multitude of different audiences with their projects.

If two days ago you had asked what e-poetry is, I would have guessed something along the lines of a mix of text and video or gif.  The "Like the Water" e-poem was similar to the one we watched in class - both had images which added a new visual dimension of life to the poem; though "Like the Water" had more short video clips included which extended the visual element with motion.  The article stated, “And keep an open mind because traditional (print-based) literacy and literary education have not prepared you well to grasp works that embrace the capabilities of digital media.” And I was certainly thrown off when I first experienced some of these e-poems and e-literature.  I think that’s because many of the older ones I watched/read were from the 1990s and much of the text was in a robotic white font with a simple black background, which was a bit creepy.  “Passing Through” by Alexander Mouton was another e-poem that essentially paired still images with sounds of conversations and the hustle and bustle city background noises.  When you add sound and image to poetry, you are adding entirely new dimensions of experience, and they enhance the text itself. I also found an e-novel titled 10:01 by Lance Olsen and Tim Guthrie, and like "Passing Through," combined text and images but without the sound.  Each click brought you to the thoughts of a different character.  I just want to know why I haven't heard of e-poetry before, because this is quite awesome.

Personally I think this assignment is going to be pretty hard. Putting a poem to music and slapping it behind a video could increase the impact a bit, but actually doing something transformative in the process so it takes as much advantage of the medium as possible seems significantly harder. Using preexisting works sounds especially difficult since unless the final poem is kinda meta-discursive about the act of translating something designed for a different medium to a digital one I feel like there isn't much reason to translate the poem in the first place. At that point, I feel like you're saying that you feel you can represent the story of the OC better through the new medium, in which case you're less translating the work than you are creating something new while being inspired by the same muse as the original artist. Seems tough, but I'm kinda looking forward to trying.

E-poetry is a very intriguing idea that is becoming more relevant in our technologically advanced world. The way e-poetry combines components which interact with our different senses is effective in creating a more immersive experience. The music and visuals aid in telling the story behind the poem. The challenge that presents itself is balancing the components and not having the images outshine the text. I have never been the best at analyzing poetry. Given that e-poetry runs through the text of the poem rather quickly, it may difficult at times for the viewer to be able to discern whether the creator intended for the video to have a metaphorical translation or a direct one. However, I am excited by the possibilities that e-poetry presents as an artistic avenue or a more open-ended form of storytelling.

To begin with, I am not a big fan of poetry in general. Because of disinterest and lack of analyzing skills, I expect myself to have some difficulties with this project. However, I do believe that I am a visual learner, and incorporating E-Poems with a video will be perfect for me as I always loved editing videos for recreational purposes. After watching several examples of video poems, other than being intrigued by the image, I was able to have a better understanding of the poems and also provoke an emotional response. The images, music, and the dynamic texts helps me to not only visualize the poem, but also dive in deeper to the meaning behind the poem.

Though words can be powerful, and I do love writing, there's no question that videos open a new world of creativity. I  am intrigued by these readings (particularly how many different types there are) and am so glad I got to explore my own ability to create something special. I didn't see this assignment, so I am commenting after the production of my e-poem, but I have to say, it is an awesome skill to have. I feel that I am able to produce material that conveys a message bigger than the words themselves. There are truly a world of possibilities of where someone could take e-poetry.