Abstract : This research paper focuses on Indo-Canadian poet Rupi Kaur and her work. By analysing Kaur’s work, this dissertation aims to examine the evolution of poetry as it has been influenced by the digital space in today’s society. Literature and poetry have always been shaped by their environment and Instagram poetry is no different. The manner in which Kaur’s poetry has developed on social media like Instagram is a question that prompts several areas of inquiry. The relationship between Instapoetry and different aspects of Kaur’s work brings to light matters of poetic form. To do so, this paper concentrates on different aspects of Kaur’s work by taking into account her poetry in print form, digital activism, oral performances and her political and social engagement as a Canadian woman of color.The first part of this dissertation concerns the evolution that has occurred from the distribution to the reception of digital poetry. Indeed, digital poetry has to cope with new challenges brought by digitization. As the creation, distribution and reception of art are simplified thanks to social networks, anyone with Internet access can create poetry and publish it on digital platforms. In doing so, one positive outcome is that art is no longer limited to a supposed literary elite, as it might have been in the past with poetry in print. However, what is more problematic is the amateurism that it appears to generate. For some critics and scholars, the vulgarisation of poetry on the digital space can be seen as a threat to literary tradition. Indeed, digital poetry is questioning the very definition of art. This article illustrates how digital poetry breaks the rules previously established by academics and refuses to the canonical rules of poetry. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that this refusal of supposed literary rules is not unique to digital poetry because many other traditions and literary movements before the 21st century and even before the 20 th century refused them...
Résumé : Ce mémoire se concentre sur la poésie numérique de Rupi Kaur. Poétesse IndoCanadienne, ses poèmes abordent des thématiques variées liées aux problématiques postcolonial au Canada, à la subjectivité et au féminisme transnational. Motivée par la représentation des femmes de couleur dans la littérature et sur l'Internet, Rupi Kaur est une poète, une « instagrammeuse » et une performeuse engagée. La poésie numérique, et encore moins celle de Rupi Kaur, est un domaine qui n’a pas été grandement étudié par les chercheurs. À travers la personne de Rupi Kaur, j’ai orienté mes recherches sur les nouveaux enjeux qu’apporte le numérique dans la poésie contemporaine ainsi que la manière dont Rupi Kaur, à travers son identité publique, redéfinit le statut du poète en transformant sa posture traditionnelle ainsi que les conditions de diffusion qui, de part notre société capitaliste et numérique, mène à qualifier la réception des poèmes par le terme de « consommation ». Dans ce mémoire, j’aborde également la question de la performance et de persona à travers le numérique, le scénique et l’identité. Puis, la dernière partie de ce mémoire se focalise sur ce que démontrent l’identification ainsi que la dimension interactive et visuelle de ce nouveau lectorat, qui se rapproche plutôt au terme de communauté, en rapport aux perspectives féministes et transnationales qui émanent des poèmes de Kaur.