Concrete Poetry

This week we’ll be looking at examples of concrete poetry. Concrete poetry was a term coined in the 1950′s for poetry whose visual arrangement is as important to the meaning of the poem as the words chosen to compose the poem. The example you see above, Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Il Pleut” (It Rains), preceded the use of the term concrete. Apollinaire referred to this poem as a “calligramme”, and it is often cited as one of the major inspirations for modern concrete poetry. You’ll find links below to examples of concrete poems, including several from the de Campos brothers, Haraldo and Augusto, two of the earliest practitioners of the form.

Concrete poetry was a uniquely international movement, encompassing many countries and languages. Many concrete poets hoped that their works would transcend the geographical and semantic boundaries of a particular language, and be understood by people who did not speak the language. Some of the examples below are in other languages. Do you understand the poems in languages other than your own?

As an introduction to the ideas behind concrete poetry, read: 1. the introduction to Mary Ellen Solt’s “Concrete Poetry: A World View”,  2. Max Bense’s statement on Concrete Poetry, and 3. Augusto de Campos’ concrete poetry manifesto

Now follow the links below to look at some examples of concrete poems available on the internet:

Guillaume Apollinaire (French language)

Eugen Gomringer

bpNichol

Haraldo de Campos (Portugese language)

Augusto de Campos (Portugese language)

Niikuni Seiichi

John Langdon

This week in class we’ll be looking at many printed examples of concrete poetry in the Joan Flasch Artists’ Books Collection. Meet at the JFABC on the fifth floor of the Sharp Building at 9 a.m. on Friday.