Form poetry uses words to create a physical shape, from simple triangles to intricate designs. It combines literary content with visual imagery and is used in mainstream art magazines and “zines”. ASCII art is a modern digital art form that also combines letters and images. While shape poetry can be displayed on the web, it is less prominent in literature today.
Form poetry is a poem or other piece of written literature in which words are written to create a physical form. Shape poetry can be as simple as a collection of words typed in the shape of a triangle, or as elaborate as a series of letters and symbols intricately typed to form the shape of a gift box, snowflake, or maze. Considering the use of this type of verse is part of understanding how poetic improvisation has developed over the centuries.
In general, form poetry seeks to combine literary content with the visualization of an image. It is part of a multi-sensory concept where images are combined with text. Patterned poetry has many different uses and may be used more frequently in certain types of web or print publications, although it is hardly a new concept.
One of the common uses of form poetry is in mainstream art magazines. Some of the less formal magazines use colored paper and patterned poems to catch the reader’s eye. Some of these print magazines are called “zines”: the zine is generally a low-budget publication created by hand and distributed at a low price, or free, at public meetings rather than published through a conventional publisher and sold in bookstores.
In the general context of multi-sensory art, shaped poetry is not the only form of media that combines letters and images. Indeed, a more modern type of digital art combines these two elements in much the same way. This computer-based visual art is called ASCII art.
ASCII art is based on the range of characters developed for the personal computer at a time when more basic computers were hitting the public market. Like patterned poetry, this art form uses letters and words as well as punctuation and other symbols. Also like shape poetry, ASCII art produces detailed images, with added color, which is not usually part of shape poetry text.
Form poetry is one of the traditional uses of the printed language that doesn’t always translate very well to the Internet. While web pages can display shape poetry, one problem with this type of literature is that without complicated browser scaling, shape poetry may not be represented the way it was intended. With some creative web programming, shape poems can be presented effectively on the web, but coupled with poetry’s gradually diminishing role as a literary art form, shape poems are also less prominent in literature today than they were in their heyday. when the poem underwent significant form and style changes before losing popularity as an alternative to prose.
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