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CONCRETE  POEM                                                                  Prof John Toth

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Artwork Under Study:

William Burroughs, Cut-ups, Poetry

Guillaume Apollinaire, Calligrames.  http://www.innereye.net/poetry/apollo/index.htm

John Toth, X-Words. http://www.innereye.net/Xmedia/Xmedia.htm

Line of Inquiry:

How does Appolinaire reconfigure the structure of word design to express something beyond the original meaning of  language?

Pedagogical Inquiry:

How does language encourage and/or limit the reflection process.

How do multiple intelligences address the limits of language?

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Objective:  Explore ways in which language can be used to “break out of the box” of its conventional way of transmitting meaning.

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Activity:  CONCRETE POEM     (KSD)

The following suggestions should be helpful in the creation of the concrete poem:

                   Begin by listing words and phrases that spontaneously come to mind.  Without censoring anything, write down any words or sentence fragments that may come out of your experience during the visual art workshop and museum visit. Refer to your experience during the workshop and museum visit. You should connect to the works of art you observed.   The next list should be more thoughtful.  Make another list based on contextual information (historical, cultural, and previous knowledge of the art objects, exhibitions and so forth).    Arrange text to create a one paragraph, free verse poem.

                  Take your poem and design the text into a visual reflection (equivalent / composition) that compliments and enhances the meaning of the poem. You may do the text by hand using any materials and colors you wish. You may use a computer. Pick a font  and size that visually compliments the meaning of the poem. You can manipulate the words and sentences on the computer. If this is too difficult, you may cut and paste. Your concrete poem should be 81/2 by 11. If you glue text/images down, everything must be flat.   When we look at the final work. Make sure that the text / image is well balanced. The visual should not dominate. Do not use clip art or add any lines and pictures other than images you make by composing the  text. The reader should know where you want them to start reading the poem.

In a Concrete Poem, form follows function. The poem's visual form reveals its content and is integral to it. These are the features of such a poem:

• If you remove the form of the poem, you weaken the poem.
• In some (though not all) Concrete Poems, the form contains so much significant meaning of the poem that, if you remove the form of the poem, you destroy the poem.
• The arrangement of letters and words creates an image that offers the meaning visually.
• The white space of the page can be a significant part of the poem.
• Such poems can include a combination of lexical and pictorial elements.
• The physical arrangement in a Concrete Poem can provide a cohesion that the actual words lack. This allows a poem to ignore standard syntax, and logical sequencing.
• While such poetry is predominantly experienced as visual poetry, some concrete poetry is sound poetry. In general, concrete poetry attempts to give its audience the more immediate experience of art that is achieved by viewers of art or hearers of music.
• See examples at John Toth’s web site: http://www.innereye.net/ActWithoutWords/ActWithoutWords.htm