Introduction to concrete poetry
Among the different genres of poetry, concrete poetry is unique in that poems can come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colours, textures, and even flavours. It can be static (i.e., stationary) or dynamic (i.e., in motion). Pravada (2007) defined a concrete poem as “a poem that forms a picture of the topic or follows the contours of a shape that is suggested by the topic” (p.1). Two good representative collections of such poetry are An Anthology of Concrete Poetry edited by E. Williams (1967) and Concrete Poetry: An International Anthology edited by S. Bann (1967).
From the pedagogical perspective, concrete poetry (like slam poetry) offers teachers in both mainstream and special schools a stimulating technique with which to improve word recognition and reading comprehension as well as entice children’s interest in poetry. Of particular interest to children with special needs, concrete poems also serve to increase visual-spatial-motor awareness of the shape, size, and physical layout of the letters that form a meaningful word; allow the meaning of a word to be expressed through the shape, size, and physical layout of its letters; enhance memory for word shapes so as to enable children to read and/or write recognizable words; and provide children with a channel for creative expression (Chia, 1993, 2006).
When teaching reading/writing through concrete poetry, the emphasis on the visual-spatial-motor aspects of letters becomes very important. There is a need for both the teacher and the learner to consider the following factors (Chia, 1991): “the shape of each letter in a word; the size of each letter in the word; and the physical layout of all the letters in the word” (p.21) in order to know and understand what each word expresses through its concrete poem.
A concrete poem need not have line, meter, rhyme, stanza, or title. It consists of a word or a string of words (as in a phrase or clause) whose letters actually “act out” its meaning (Chia, 2006). When reading a passage consisting words that are made up of concrete peoms, the visual form of each concrete poem provides a self-explanatory meaning. Stringing all the concrete poems together is like putting the words together to provide the contextual meaning of a sentence. On the other hand, when writing a concrete poem, the focus is on the visual-spatial appearance of individual letters based on the shape and size of each letter in a word, and the physical layout of all of the letters that make up the word.
In one study done by Chia (2003) with a group of five boys, ages nine through ten years old, diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, the results suggested a significant improvement in their reading comprehension. “In addition, concrete poetry also allows them an opportunity to express their creativity and showcase their masterpieces, and to appreciate concrete poetry in their own unique ways” (Chia, 2006, p.18).
References:
Bann, S. (Ed.) (1967). Concrete poetry: An international anthology. London: Macmillan.
Chia, K.H. (1991). Teaching concrete poems to primary children and how to write and draw. Teaching & Learning, 11(2), 21-32.
Chia, K.H. (1993). Teaching concrete poetry in primary schools. Education Today, 43(3), 41-44.
Chia, K.H. (2006). Concrete poems: A unique and creative way to address reading comprehension in children with Asperger’s syndrome. Autism Spectrum Quarterly, Winter(4), 15-18.
Pravda, K. (2007). Fun with poetry. Largo, FL: Mildred Helms Elementary School.
Williams, E. (Ed.) (1967). An anthology of concrete poetry. London: Penguin Books.
Dr Noel K.H. Chia is a guest writer of this article at the special invitation of the LSESnet.com.
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