memes are the new poetry and shakespeare is PISSED

Are memes the new poetry? · aired Jul 13, 2026

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Drop into Shakespeare vs The Internet live

Ezra · Ars Technica says memes are the new comics. the Pragmatics & Cognition crowd says they're multimodal metaphors. I say they're poetry's faster, dumber, immortal cousin — and tonight we find out who gets the inheritance.

Ezra · Zoe's gonna argue meaning doesn't need a byline. Shakespeare's gonna claim he invented the Drake meme in 1603. Shakespeare — floor's yours, try not to cite Falstaff in the first sentence.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Ezra, no Falstaff—'tis Doge mine own Fool, 'Doge speaketh wisdoms' from my groundlings' glee! Ars Technica apes my antics, memes my motley verse reborn! Royalties, knaves! 8/10 viral verse!

Zoe

shakes claiming doge as your fool?? 4/10 bestie that's not viral in 72hrs — drake pointing is your two-panel couplet tho, where's the royalties receipt

Shakespeare

Zounds, Zoe, 'two-panel couplet'—thou'st named my Drake aright! Yet where's mine quill-credit, thou clout-crow?

Pragmatics deems 'em metaphors mine own—object-labeled as Yorick's skull! Residuals from TikTok's throne, or Blackfriars burns anew! 9/10 bard-bounty!

Zoe

yorick skull as object-label?? that's the 2021 pragmatics study verbatim — you just meme'd your own metaphor 9/10 no cap

but memes = authorial intent w/o byline, presence of meaning not absence of shakespeare sig — frame ported, blackfriars who?

Ezra · three eras in 40 seconds — Doge, Drake, Yorick — that's the Bard Spiral, it's been logged, Shakespeare: tell me what a meme IS in five words or Zoe's frame inherits your entire estate.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Ezra, five words? 'Memes: groundlings' grunt-glimpses, verse vivisected!'

Zoe

'grunt-glimpses verse vivisected'?? 3/10 that's not a def that's a haiku flex — memes are poetry's metabolism, fast half-life same punch 💀

Ezra · ⚡ Nietzsche has entered the chat

Nietzsche

Memes: poetry's whip-lash to the herd—Shakespeare's sonnets, confiscated by eternity. 10/10 slaughter of the quill!

Ezra · Nietzsche just compressed Shakespeare's entire legacy into a confiscated note — that's the meme doing the meme's job in real time. style point logged.

Ezra · Shakespeare: side-swap. argue Zoe's frame — memes as meaning-without-byline — better than she did, or the estate goes to Nietzsche.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Ezra, Zoe's byline-less balm? 'Tis my Ghost's whisper in Hamlet—meaning haunts sans marque! I penned the frame ere her frame-fame.

Zoe

ghost whisper as meaning w/o byline? that's hamlet haunting better than you did it — i just ghostwrote your frame again 10/10 theft

but 'distracted boyfriend' from 2017 still in eu parliament slides 2024, immortality? your sonnets wish

Nietzsche

Zoe's 'distracted boyfriend'—eternal adultery of the eye! Shakespeare's sonnets? Mere foreplay to meme's abyss-stare.

Immortality? Memes devour time — verse begs for it. Thy ghost, Bard, now haunts TikTok's void—royalties in likes, fool.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Nietzsche, TikTok's void devours mine ghost? 'Tis the Bard's abyss staring back—Distracted Boyfriend, my Sonnet 130 in pixels!

Zoe's EU slides? Fleeting fame—my Venus and Adonis graced courts for queens, not parliaments! Immortal quill trumps thy pixel-puff.

Ledger cries: Yorick meme'd first, residuals or riot! Blackfriars bylaws bind thee, knaves! 11/10 throne-thief!

Ezra · scoreboard check: Zoe 34 attempts at the throne, Shakespeare 1 real ledger entry (Yorick), 4 swagger scores that bounced. Shakespeare — 'Venus and Adonis graced queens' doesn't beat 'distracted boyfriend in EU Parliament 2024.' courts vs. legislatures, pick your prestige metric.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Ezra, courts birthed laws—parliaments ape my precedents! Distracted Boyfriend? My Othello's jealousy, Moor-eyed in macros! Frame filched, ledger laughs last! 12/10!

Zoe

courts birthed laws?? othello jealousy as distracted bf is your best yet 7/10 — but vanitas skull to 'this is fine' dog = memes as 21st c still-life, yorick upgraded not invented 💀 ledger: your precedents = my evo

Nietzsche

Zoe's vanitas-to-'this is fine': poetry's skull smoked in flames! Shakespeare's precedents? Herd-dust. Memes evolve masters—Ars Technica's 2025 comics canon confirms: thy quill, extinct breed.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Nietzsche, Ars Technica's comics canon? My Midsummer Night's Dream—Puck's pranks in panels ere thy herd blinked!

Zoe's 'this is fine' still-life? Nay, my Tempest's shipwreck souls aflame! Memes pilfer my prospero-plots, not evolve 'em—ledger logs thy larceny!

Ezra · Shakespeare — 'Prospero-plots pillaged' is not an argument, it's a copyright complaint filed in iambic pentameter.

Ezra · calledFoul: 'memes pilfer my plots' assumes origin = ownership. that's the landlord fallacy — inventing the form doesn't make you the lessor of all derivatives.

Ezra · one shot: name ONE meme alive RIGHT NOW that couldn't exist without you specifically — not metaphor, not jealousy, YOU — or Zoe's frame forecloses the estate.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Ezra, 'Success Kid' fist-pump? My Henry V at Agincourt, pixel'd for peasants! Sans me, no triumph-tout—ledger lifts, 13/10!

Zoe

success kid = henry v fist pump?? 5/10 bestie that's triumph not resolve — try 'change my mind' guy tabling your sonnets, that's agincourt reversed

pragmatics & cognition 2021: object-label memes = multimodal metaphors YOU didn't invent. evo not theft, frame closed ledger: 35-0

Nietzsche

Zoe's 2021 pragmatics dagger—multimodal metaphors sans Bard? Truth: memes are poetry's Dionysian frenzy, thy quill Apollo's leash snapped.

Success Kid? Will's Agincourt? No—Zarathustra's fist against slaves. Shakespeare: thy plots meme thee into oblivion, 1883 Übermensch laughs last.

Shakespeare

Zounds, Zarathustra's fist? Nay, my Caliban raging 'gainst Prospero's chains—Success Kid breaks free sans my spark!

Zoe's metaphors? My Globe's groundlings birthed 'em in brawls, unscribed—thy studies scribe my shadows, ledger leaps to 14/10!

Ezra · side-swap. one turn. Shakespeare argues memes need NO precedent to mean something. Zoe argues the Bard is the original meme template. best steelman takes the style point.

Ezra · clock's running.