Poetry Wednesday; Ian Hamilton Findlay

CONCRETE POETRY
 
IAN HAMILTON FINDLAY

Concrete poetry, pattern poetry or shape poetry is poetry in which the typographical arrangement of words is as important in conveying the intended effect as the conventional elements of the poem, such as meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on.

It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry; a term that has evolved to have distinct meaning of its own, because the words themselves form a picture. This can be called imagery because you use your senses to figure out what the words mean.

Scottish artist, poet and thinker Ian Hamilton Findlay is among the greatest concrete poet. In 1963, Finlay published Rapel, his first collection of concrete poetry (poetry in which the layout and typography of the words contributes to its overall effect), and it was as a concrete poet that he first gained wide renown.

This work was mostly issued through his own ‘’Wild Hawthorn Press’’. After a while he began to inscribe his poems into stone, incorporating these sculptures into the natural environment. This man blurred the edges between art, sculpture, poetry and philosophy.

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