Closed and Open Form.
Concrete Poetry.
Conventions and Innovations
Poetic Form
 Poetic form is the design of a poem described in
terms of rhyme, meter, and stanzaic pattern.
 Closed form is characterized by regular patterns of
meter, rhyme, line length, stanzaic division. Often
belongs to a traditional genre (ex., sonnet). Includes
blank verse – unrhymed but otherwise regular.
 Open form is characterized by irregular structure.
Open Poetic Forms
 Free verse (vers libre) is unrhymed, with varying
line length, without regular stanzas.
 Prose poem looks like prose, has horizontal layout.
 Visual poem based on visual effects (ex.,
typographical arrangement) more than words.
 Sound poem is intended for oral presentation only;
based on sound effects.
 Concrete poetry – umbrella term for
unconventional experimental poetry.
e.e.cummings (1894-1962)
 American poet, novelist,
playwright, and painter.
 Disregarded, on purpose,
conventional punctuation,
syntax, and grammar.
 Most known for combining
modernist elements with
traditional forms in poetry.
 Employed typography for
visual effects in poems.
May Swenson (1913-1989)
 American poet, playwright,
and translator.
 Her first language was
Swedish.
 Wrote on love, nature, and
sexuality.
 One of the first American
female poets to explore the
theme of same-sex love.
bpNichol
(Barrie Phillip Nichol, 1944-1988)
 Canadian poet, author of
concrete poetry.
 Known for visual books,
sound poetry,
performances, collages,
theatrical pieces, digital
poems, and other
unconventional forms.
George Herbert (1593-1633)
 English religious poet and
Anglican priest.
 Famous for his orations.
 Wrote metaphysical poetry.
 Several of his poems are
used by Church of England
as hymns.
 Some of his sayings became
proverbs (“His bark is
worse than his bite”).