This is not meant as a complete guide to
concrete poetry, but merely a short introduction. This was
originally collected after teaching the subject briefly at the
Arab University of Cairo.
Basically, concrete poetry is poem as picture or solid construction. Poets of the past have played with the idea of making poems in the shape of something. A poem about a butterfly is set out on the page in the shape of a butterfly.
One of the most interesting developments of this type of writing was the publication during the first world war of a book of visual poems by Guillaume Apollinaire called Calligrammes. Here is one of the poems from that collection:
Basically, concrete poetry is poem as picture or solid construction. Poets of the past have played with the idea of making poems in the shape of something. A poem about a butterfly is set out on the page in the shape of a butterfly.
One of the most interesting developments of this type of writing was the publication during the first world war of a book of visual poems by Guillaume Apollinaire called Calligrammes. Here is one of the poems from that collection:
