Visual poetry

Visual poetry is poetry in which typography, spatial arrangement, or imagery contributes to meaning alongside verbal language. Its form makes the page or other visual surface part of the poem.

Concrete poetry: Poetry in which a poem’s visual arrangement or letterforms help express its subject or structure. A prominent form makes the poem’s shape on the page part of its meaning.
Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard: A 1897 poem by Stéphane Mallarmé that uses varied type sizes and spatial arrangement across the page. Its dispersed typography makes reading order and chance central to the poem’s form.
Pattern poetry: Poetry whose lines form a shape related to the poem’s subject or meaning. This longstanding practice precedes modern visual poetry’s experimental forms.
Guillaume Apollinaire: A French poet and critic known for the shaped poems collected in Calligrammes. His calligrams made words form images tied to their subjects.
Artist's book: A book conceived as an artwork, with its material form and design integral to its content. A book’s physical sequence and surfaces can become part of a visual poem.
Typography: The design and arrangement of printed or displayed type. Typeface, size, and spacing can shape how a visual poem is read.
Calligrammes: A 1918 collection of poems by Guillaume Apollinaire, including works arranged as images. The collection helped establish the modern calligram as a poetic form.
George Herbert: An English poet and Anglican priest whose shaped poems include “Easter Wings.” His shaped verse offers an influential early example of form serving poetic meaning.
E. E. Cummings: An American poet known for unconventional typography, punctuation, and lineation. His disrupted layouts show how printed form can alter a poem’s pace and emphasis.
Digital poetry: Poetry created for digital media, often using screen-specific features such as movement, sound, or interaction. Digital poetry extends visual composition to animated and interactive forms.

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