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Picture verse

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Poetry arranged typographically to form a visual image related to its subject

Detailed Definition
Picture verse, or concrete poetry, arranges words, letters, or typographical elements on the page to form visual shapes that complement or embody the poem’s meaning; this fusion of image and text challenges linear reading, emphasizing spatial composition as integral to interpretation, with roots in ancient pattern poems and 20th-century avant-garde movements.
Example
Example in poetry:
George Herbert’s “Easter Wings,” shaped like wings; Lewis Carroll’s “The Mouse’s Tale,” tail-shaped; Apollinaire’s calligrammes, like “Il Pleut”; Modern example: bpNichol’s concrete poems forming visual objects
Additional Notes
Picture verse (or concrete poetry) arranges words visually to form shapes or images that reinforce the poem’s meaning.
Also Known As
Concrete poetry Shape verse Typographic poem Visual stanza Ecphrasis Ideographic verse Phanopoeia Picture book poetry
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