The Brief: The poet/the poem memes present celebrity quotes and memorable lines as "poetry."
DEEP DIVE
The poet/the poem memes were inspired by a trend of people posting selfies next to their poetry with the caption “the poet/the poem.” Memes developed with looser interpretations of what counts as a poem and who is a poet.
By pairing celebrity quotes and lines from TV and movies with a photo of the person who said them, these memes jokingly compare such quotes to high art. Although they wouldn’t traditionally be considered to be poetry, the lines featured in these memes are usually iconic and memorable in some way.
Rihanna on rats:
The poet The poem pic.twitter.com/FNVdo8I6rw
— Ángel (@angel161097) January 23, 2020
The poet The poem pic.twitter.com/mBzNPlxijF
— nasrin⚜️ (@myfriendnas) January 22, 2020
the poet. the poem pic.twitter.com/jONOAsDoTW
— Chięf (@Zaaaidk) January 20, 2020
The Poet // The Poem pic.twitter.com/I3JkekdUOv
— Imán Schüller (@Iman_Schuller) January 15, 2020
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho calling the Oscars a local film festival:
the poet the poem pic.twitter.com/1u7VlITj4q
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) January 24, 2020
the poet the poem pic.twitter.com/mwYEYP6ODx
— will bettelheim (@numz7) January 22, 2020
The Poet The Poem pic.twitter.com/pZyFhXx0D2
— niyaaz (@niyaazm_) January 23, 2020
The Poet The Poem pic.twitter.com/EgnZ1biM2Q
— Jenna Maroney (@OffBrandHeels) January 23, 2020
Jenny Holzer https://t.co/oCUbL5Kp6H
— 𝔭𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔢 (@wh0rrorific) January 23, 2020
the poet: the poem: pic.twitter.com/incBxhGNnP
— Liz, A Soft Ghost (@liz_lawlz) January 24, 2020