| With the advent of the digital revolution and the widespread use and acceptance of the personal computer, authors and poets around the globe have begun to explore the dynamic potential of new modes of communication, such as hypertext, programming languages, and multimedia environments. While much has been written about works that employ hypertext and multimedia, few critics have analyzed poems authored in programming languages, such as Perl poetry. These computer language poems, the curious instance in which poem and code are one, are the most interesting of these new forms of writing since they provide unique insight into the poetics of digital environments as one of performance, language games, and word play.; Because these digital forms of writing use new technologies unavailable to previous generations, there is a strong inclination to characterize them as radically different and completely unlike traditional print-based poetries. Yet Perl and other forms of new media poetry represent an extension, not the dissolution, of concepts already being explored in avant-garde poetry. Like other forms of avant-garde poetry, Perl poetry is non-mimetic, non-lyrical, and non-narrative. Instead of lyricism and plot, Perl poetry foregrounds the material constraints of the computing environment in connection with a heightened attention to the visual, aural, and semantic characteristics of both English and the Perl language.; Perl poetry not only signifies an important addition to the history of contemporary poetry, but also suggests dramatic implications for the study of poetry. As we enter the digital age, we must alter our definitions of poetry to include objects outside our traditional areas of expertise. In so doing, Perl poetry suggests that in the digital age, poetry is an interdisciplinary endeavor. |
