Hypertext poetry

Hypertext poetry, a form of e-poetry, is hard to delineate, since it is often very visual, thus seeping into hypertext fiction and visual arts. A definition would include its use of links using hypertext mark-up. The links mean that a hypertext poem has no set order, the poem moving or being generated in response to the links that the reader/user chooses. It can either involve set words, phrases, lines, etc. that are presented in variable order but sit on the page much as traditional poetry does, or it can contain parts of the poem that move and / or mutate. It is usually found online, though CD-ROM and diskette versions exist. The earliest examples date to no later than the mid 1980s.

See also

• Electronic Literature Organization
• Hypertext fiction
• Tran Duc Thuan
• Jason Nelson

External links

• Electronic Poetry Center, SUNY Buffalo
• Names for hypertext poetry and related forms
• Chris Funkhouser: "Hypertext and Poetry
• Judy Malloy: where every luminous landscape