Exploring the Intersection of Digital Platforms and Contemporary Poetry: A Multi-Modal Discourse Analysis of Noor Unnahar’s Poetry

Abstract

The study investigates the relationship between digital platforms and contemporary poetry in the form of a multi-modal discourse analysis of Noor Unnahar’s Instagram poetry. Instapoetry, verbal tropes, and general accounts of digital literature have significant value in Western modern literary circles. However, in Pakistan, very few digital poets combine verbal language with visual, spatial, typographic, and platform-specific resources for creating poetic meanings. This study seeks to fill the gap by investigating the multi-modal nature of Instagram as a medium not only for the distribution but also for the presentation and interpretation of poetry. The corpus includes 398 poetry posts published between January 2021 to June 2026, out of which 18 poems have been selected using criterion-based chronological sampling. Using Kress and Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar model, the analysis demonstrates that Noor Unnahar’s Instagram poetry spans the continuum from text-dominant compositions to integrated text-image constructions. Everyday objects, living beings, and material spaces frequently convey abstract experiences, alongside typography, white space, color, and spatial configuration.everyday objects, living beings, and material spaces can frequently function as resources for conveying abstract experiences, typography, white space, colors, and spatial configuration. The findings show that Instagram poetry operates as a multi-modal literary practice as a multi-modal literary practice where meaning is created through the interplay of linguistic, non-linguistic, and digital resources.