Article
NEUPARLENUEVO
June 30, 2016
We can rightfully speak of a globalized world (a term that in use originated from globalization in terms of borderless growth of international capital), although not every-one has access to this globalized world (about 2 billion at the moment of the 7 billion people).
Being part of this globalized world means that its inhabitants (if not born and raised in an Anglo-American culture) speak at least a globalized version of Anglo-American, besides their native language. In the larger cosmopolitan cities of the world, many nationalities and cultural communities that have it roots in other parts of the globe bring in a form of vernacular that finds its way in an urban language, a street language wherein vocabulary originated from many different languages can be traced. So a growing part of our world population is living in a multilingual world and this multilingual world for a large part reveals and manifests itself in the digital or virtual world that has rapidly changed from a parallel world to an indelible part of the physical world.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that both the multilingual character of certain communities and of cosmopolitan life in general, and the multimedia possibilities of sharing our views and experiences with others, in the open space of posted and duplicated messages and its ramifications, has its effect on poetry writing and poetry distribution. We no longer have to stick to one language, we can make our own vernacular and we don’t need the book as the vehicle for distribution of content.
Does that mean that Poetry will develop into a genre more widespread and popular than ever?
Does that mean Poetry will find new forms to such an extent that it will be a vital part of communication and knowledge distribution?
Can poetry in his multilingual form - a form I not easily expect to find in prose or essays - can poetry in its multilingual form bring about a different perspective on language and moreover the impact of language and vocabulary?
Or is there a bigger chance multilingualism will form its own cosmopolitan avant-garde niches.
Will the combination of global distribution and multilingualism guarantee a new prosperity and popularity of poetry as an art form? Will it help to move poetry from art to daily life?
The poets Dean Bowen, Maartje Smits and Ann Vickery read examples from their work that show something of the scope of contemporary multilingualism in poetry. Kila van der Starre
(half Dutch/half British literary scholar and poetry critic, doing a PhD research on ‘poetry off the page’, such as poetry on stage, in public areas, on objects and on the internet) lectured on poetry going viral on the internet.
The contributors to the program introduced certain aspects to the topic, not an answer to the question what the future of poetry will be. That question is again topical the minute an answer to it, is given. The future of poetry is always tomorrow.
Poetry, a language-conscious genre par excellence, always relates to its subject matter through the possibilities of language. Language is never random, never a chance catch from the inexhaustible reservoir of words and phrases. Any poet who seeks poetic inspiration in current affairs, in everyday life, in what’s going on in society however endowed with a sense of history they may be, will take and form the language which best expresses his relationship to this events.
Nowadays we’re living in a world in which we quite easily get in touch with or get to know the taste and opinions, the worries and views of thousands of people; people who bring forward almost instantly what’s on their mind in the virtual public space of the so-called social media on the internet.We can rightfully speak of a globalized world (a term that in use originated from globalization in terms of borderless growth of international capital), although not every-one has access to this globalized world (about 2 billion at the moment of the 7 billion people).
Being part of this globalized world means that its inhabitants (if not born and raised in an Anglo-American culture) speak at least a globalized version of Anglo-American, besides their native language. In the larger cosmopolitan cities of the world, many nationalities and cultural communities that have it roots in other parts of the globe bring in a form of vernacular that finds its way in an urban language, a street language wherein vocabulary originated from many different languages can be traced. So a growing part of our world population is living in a multilingual world and this multilingual world for a large part reveals and manifests itself in the digital or virtual world that has rapidly changed from a parallel world to an indelible part of the physical world.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that both the multilingual character of certain communities and of cosmopolitan life in general, and the multimedia possibilities of sharing our views and experiences with others, in the open space of posted and duplicated messages and its ramifications, has its effect on poetry writing and poetry distribution. We no longer have to stick to one language, we can make our own vernacular and we don’t need the book as the vehicle for distribution of content.
Does that mean that Poetry will develop into a genre more widespread and popular than ever?
Does that mean Poetry will find new forms to such an extent that it will be a vital part of communication and knowledge distribution?
Can poetry in his multilingual form - a form I not easily expect to find in prose or essays - can poetry in its multilingual form bring about a different perspective on language and moreover the impact of language and vocabulary?
Or is there a bigger chance multilingualism will form its own cosmopolitan avant-garde niches.
Will the combination of global distribution and multilingualism guarantee a new prosperity and popularity of poetry as an art form? Will it help to move poetry from art to daily life?
The poets Dean Bowen, Maartje Smits and Ann Vickery read examples from their work that show something of the scope of contemporary multilingualism in poetry. Kila van der Starre
(half Dutch/half British literary scholar and poetry critic, doing a PhD research on ‘poetry off the page’, such as poetry on stage, in public areas, on objects and on the internet) lectured on poetry going viral on the internet.
The contributors to the program introduced certain aspects to the topic, not an answer to the question what the future of poetry will be. That question is again topical the minute an answer to it, is given. The future of poetry is always tomorrow.
© Jan Baeke
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