Dialectic of Attention: The Revival of the Sonnet in the Age of Digital Capitalism

This article theorizes the “dialectic of attention” as a central framework for understanding the resurgence of fixed poetic forms – particularly the sonnet – in contemporary Romanian poetry. Against the backdrop of digital capitalism’s cognitive regimes, the dialectic unfolds as a tension between the accelerated, fragmented rhythms of platform-mediated attention (e.g., TikTok’s micro-narratives, Instagram’s scroll logic) and the sonnet’s formal imperative to arrest, compress, and restructure perception. Focusing on Florentin Popa’s sonnets, the study argues that the sonnet’s rigid geometry operates dialectically: it simultaneously mirrors the brevity and modularity demanded by digital interfaces while subverting their linear, consumption-driven temporality. Through quantitative analysis of Popa’s evolution from expansive, open-form verse (2013–2017) to hypercompressed, procedurally stabilized sonnets (2021–2024), the article demonstrates how poetic form absorbs and critiques the infrastructural pressures of semiocapitalism. Popa’s sonnets, with their “tabular simultaneity,” demand a mode of attention antithetical to platform aesthetics: rather than simulating speed, they spatialize time, inviting readers to perceive structural wholeness amid informational chaos.

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