One dominant theme in critical responses to Rupi Kaur’s poetry is the response to the medium through which she has chosen to share her poetry. Although Kaur, an Indian Canadian writer, has published two books of poetry, her works usually appear first on Instagram. Although many writers use this platform (often tagging themselves #instapoets), literary critics generally seem to find this surprising, and some assume that there is a direct relationship between the medium and the quality of the work. A review in The Times (London), for example, wonders if her work “is any good.” Kaur noted, in a National Public Radio interview, the challenging juxtapositions:
I think the issue is because we have a form of art that is highly, highly traditional—meaning poetry. And then you have this other thing, which is new and quite nontraditional, which is, of course, social media. And so the gatekeepers of these two things are kind of confused at this moment.
Age and gender also seem to be salient factors in the reception. Kaur’s second book, The Sun and Her Flowers (2017), has been widely reviewed—but most reviews are on blogs, in college student newspapers, or in young adult literature recommendation websites. Several publications not known for covering poetry, however, have also published interviews, such as Teen Vogue. Overall, there seems to be consensus of Kaur’s appeal to young people, especially young women. Ella Cerón, the Teen Vogue interviewer, raised the question of youth and gender in relation to critical strictures that are sometimes applied:
TV: Something that often happens when writers, and especially female writers, tackle multiple topics, is that people tell them to "stay in their lanes" when it's natural that they'd have different opinions on different topics.
The author moved from India to Canada at age four, knowing no English, but has always written poetry in English. While some critics have called her language overly simple, in the NPR interview she mentions this as a deliberate choice.
[M]y choice of diction—all the accessible choices that I make—it's to make sure that it's tailored to the person that I was when I was growing up.
In sum, issues of youth and gender, ethnic origin, and language, as well as the medium she chooses, all seem to be affecting Kaur's confused gatekeepers.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/rupi-kaur-the-sun-and-her-flowers-interview
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sun-her-flowers-rupi-kaur-review-wxrlzcksf
The critical reception to Rupi Kaur’s bestselling second book of poetry, The Sun and Her Flowers, has been mixed. Kaur is known as an “Instagram poet,” as she first gained notice by posting and sharing her poems through the social media network. She has a huge base of dedicated followers who vehemently support her work online and in book form. Her books have topped the both the New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists. This is an enormous accomplishment for any writer.
In the literary world, however, Kaur hasn’t been given the same attention that more traditional or academic poets receive. For example, although more than one article has been written about her in the New York Times, they have failed to actually review her books. In fact, very few mainstream book review venues have reviewed The Sun and Her Flowers. The Guardian even published an article entitled, “Rupi Kaur: the inevitable backlash against Instagram's favourite poet.”
The Sun and Her Flowers remains a very controversial and often derided book which, nonetheless, has seen over a million copies sold—and counting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/fashion/rupi-kaur-poetry-the-sun-and-her-flowers.html
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2017/10/on-rupi-kaur
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/oct/04/rupi-kaur-instapoets-the-sun-and-her-flowers
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