Shape Poems a History
Poetry which forms a structurally original visual shape, preferably
abstract, through the use of reduced language, fragmented letters,
symbols and other typographical variations to create an extreme graphic
impact on the reader's attention. The essence of concrete poetry lies in
its appearance on the page rather than in the written text; it is
intended to be perceived as a visual whole and often cannot be effective
when read aloud.
The 20th century poets became bored of writing poems using a metrical
pattern, rhymes-scheme and rhyme. Instead concepts used in creating
haiku and Eastern poetry began to affect statements that make up a
traditional poem. Rather than declaiming a poem, clear images and the
usual speech pattern that expressed ideas in just a few lines turned
more interesting. This gave birth to Shape poems which flourished in the
1950’s and 1960’s.
A precursor to concrete poetry is Micrograph, a technique for creating
visual images by Hebrew-using artists who create pictures using tiny
arrangements of Biblical texts organized usually on paper in images
which illustrate the text used. As noted in the entry, micrograph allows
the creation of images of natural objects by observant Jews without
directly breaking the prohibition of creating "graven images" that might
be interpreted as idolatry. The technique is now used by both religious
and secular artists and reportedly is also used by Arabic
writer-artists.
The French poet Pierre Garnier, collaborating with the Japanese poet
Seiichi Niikuni, also used the term spatiality in relation to concrete
poetry, implying that the white space between words also holds meaning.
Mechanic, phonetic, semantic and visual poetry also approach the idea of
concrete poetry. Poets emphasized that language is not only a means of
communication, but that language also has a material dimension.
Since Shape poems are neither restricted by words nor rhyming, anyone
can have fun making this type of poem. In fact, a Shape poem can also be
a tool for people of any generation to express their thoughts and
creativity.
For example, the following poem pectoris’s the image of a rabbit.
New forms of concrete/visual poetry are still being created, such as the
interactive and puzzle poetry by Jennifer Kathleen Phillips. Some of
these contain poems within a poem or visual messages triggered by the
sound or synergy of the shape of words and letters
The term was coined in the 1950s. In 1956 an international exhibition of
concrete poetry was shown in São Paulo, Brazil, by the group Noigandres
(Augusto and Haroldo de Campos, Décio Pignatari and Ronaldo Azeredo)
with the poets Ferreira Gullar and Wlademir Dias Pino. Two years later,
a Brazilian concrete poetry manifesto was published. One of the earliest
Brazilian pioneers, Augusto de Campos, has assembled a Web site of old
and new work (see external links below), including the manifesto. Its
principal tenet is that using words as part of a specifically visual
work allows for the words themselves to become part of the poetry,
rather than just unseen vehicles for ideas. The original manifesto says:
Concrete poetry begins by assuming a total responsibility before
language: accepting the premise of the historical idiom as the
indispensable nucleus of communication, it refuses to absorb words as
mere indifferent vehicles, without life, without personality without
history - taboo-tombs in which convention insists on burying the idea.
Once you have written your shape poem, you can color it to add more
vitality and then cut it following the outline of the shape which you
have chosen. This could be a great gift or it can even function as a
décor in your own room, the kitchen, the living room or anywhere at all.
With the new technologies and skills of the upcoming writers , shape
poems are gaining great attraction.
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