Literary forces that surround pandemic poetry

Abstract

This article studies the literary forces around the pandemic in India. It looks at the purpose and motivation of pandemic poetry, the role of the writer and writing behaviours and the role of the digital medium. A combination of primary and secondary texts has been used to present the therapeutic and community building role of poetry. Additionally, interviews were conducted with thirteen poets who were writing about the pandemic and posting their work on Instagram. The main theoretical frameworks used are Susan Sontag’s ‘Illness as a Metaphor’ and the affective communities as theorized by Leela Gandhi and Emma Hutchison