Examples of Concrete Poetry: Visual Representation of a Text on Page

Concrete poetry is sometimes called pattern poetry because of its visual shape in which a text is represented on the page. It is very ancient form of poetry which was used by some Greek poets who shaped a text in such a way that looked like an object.

Recently, the vogue of concrete poetry is revived by the Swiss poet Eugen Gomringer in 1953. The poets of such poetry make the use of reduced language which is typed or printed in such a way that the visible text appears to be a physical or concrete object. Moreover, they use a variety of font types and of different sizes to produce different images.

America had its own tradition of pattern poetry as it occurs the works in e. e. cummings for instance, “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r” is nothing but a leaping insect called “grasshopper” as if letters themselves crawl like an insect!

Some Americans who have been influenced by this form or examples of concrete poetry are Jonathan Williams, Emmett Williams, and Mary Ellen Solt.

What to Read:
To learn more about the collections of concrete poems in various languages, read Emmett Williams, ed., An Anthology of Concrete Poetry (1967); and Mary Ellen Solt, ed., Concrete Poetry: A World View (1968)

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