VISUAL POETRY 
          Concrete Poetry
 


 


ACRONYM. Oil on canvas (180 x 180 cms).

 

 

ACRONYM. (detail)

                                         

HEAT. (Center Panel)

 

 

HEAT. Oil on canvas. (160 x 480 cms) 

               

                        

HAIKU. (center panel)

 

 

HAIKU. Oil on canvas. (120 x 360 cms)

                

                            

FAGIN KNEW A SIN. (ink on paper)
(An anagram on Finnegans Wake)

 

 

MESHACK'S JOURNEY. (ink on paper)

                                 

THE SOUND OF CRIMSON.
Oil on canvas
(220 x 180 cms)

 

TOWER OF BABEL. Oil on canvas (350 x 175 cms)

          

                

STANDING IN THE SUN OF MARCHES.
(left panel detail)

 

 

STANDING IN THE SUN OF MARCHES.
Oil on canvas (200 x 600 cms).

     

                          

IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS.
Ink on Paper. (100 x 100 cms)

 

 

ZEITGEIST. Oil on canvas (150 x 300 cms).
After 'The Scream', by Edward Munch.

         

                       

IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS. (detail).

 

 

IRISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS. Ink on Paper. (100 x 200 cms)

     

           

The principal idea 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 idea of using typography to enhance the meaning of a poem is an old one.
This style of poetry originated in Greek Alexandria
during the third and second centuries B.C.
Only a handful of examples survive.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll,
contains a similar effect
in the form of the mouse's "Tale," which is in the shape of a tail.
More recent poets sometimes cited as influences by concrete poets include
Guillaume Apollinaire, for his various typographical innovations,
and Esra Pound,
 for his use of
Chineses ideogram, as well as various Dadaists.

Newer forms of concrete/visual poetry are still being created, such as puzzle poetry.
Some of these contain poems within a poem or visual messages triggered by
the sound or synergy of the shape of words and letters.
 
Visual Poetry now blurrs the boundaries between poetry and art.

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