Reading Visual Poetry [Paperback]

Visual poetry can be defined as poetry that is meant to be seen. Combining painting and poetry, it attempts to synthesize the principles underlying each discipline. Visual poems are immediately recognizable by their refusal to adhere to a rectilinear grid and by their tendency to flout their plasticity. In contrast to traditional poetry, they are conceived not only as literary works but also as works of art. Although they continue to provide visual cues that aid in deciphering the text, they function simultaneously as visual compositions. Whether the visual elements form a rudimentary pattern or whether they constitute a highly sophisticated design, they transform the poem into a picture. Reading Visual Poetry examines works created in Spain, Latin America, France, Italy, Brazil, and the United States. While it attempts to recreate the historical and cultural context surrounding each of the works in question, it is conceived primarily as a series of readings-or rather as a series of readings about reading. This book seeks to interpret a number of poems, which, despite their apparent simplicity, can be difficult to decipher. It explores the process of interpretation itself, which, like the compositions, can be surprisingly complex.Willard Bohnis distinguished professor emeritus of French and comparative literature at Illinois State University.

The title here is literal. Bohn provides readings of notable 'concrete' poemspoems formatted into a picture or visual design (kinetic digital as well as static print) rather than standard lineated textfrom a range of modern literary moments and orbits (Spanish, French, Italian, and Brazilian). The author traces neither the history nor principles of the literary movement as such, nor the development of the genre itself. He follows a straightforward, three-part procedure for engaging the poems: first, perceiving the visual design as a gestalt; second, deciphering the text in its unorthodox and often multiple physical lC‘