Living language: vivid examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry

Before we hash out neat definitions, let’s start with the examples that teachers, critics, and poets quietly point to whenever someone asks for an example of concrete poetry.

Imagine opening a book and seeing a poem about a falling leaf where the words themselves drift down the page in a zigzag, thinning out until there’s just one last lonely word at the bottom: gone. You could explain that concrete poetry uses visual arrangement to reinforce meaning… or you could just show that page. That’s how the best examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry work: the definition is built into the design.

Let’s move through some famous and modern cases that people regularly cite as real examples when they talk about what concrete poetry actually is.

Classic print examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry

When people talk about the best examples of concrete poetry, they almost always bring up a few mid‑20th‑century works that basically became the textbook definition.

George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” – the early shape poem

Long before the term concrete poetry became trendy, George Herbert’s 17th‑century poem “Easter Wings” was already doing the job. The poem is printed sideways so the lines form two wing shapes. As the speaker describes spiritual “decay,” the lines literally shrink in length. As the mood lifts into “victory,” the lines widen again.

This is a perfect example of how concrete poetry ties form and meaning together:

• The narrow middle looks like a moment of collapse.
• The expanding lines resemble wings stretching out.

Readers and scholars often use “Easter Wings” as one of the earliest examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry, even though Herbert never used that label.

Guillaume Apollinaire’s calligrams – pictures made of words

Jump to the early 1900s: French poet Guillaume Apollinaire publishes “Calligrammes”, a collection where poems are arranged into pictures — a horse, a fountain, a woman’s profile. A poem about rain literally looks like lines of rain falling across the page.

These calligrams are real examples that show how concrete poetry doesn’t just decorate words; it lets the image do part of the storytelling. When critics explain concrete poetry to beginners, Apollinaire’s work is often one of the best examples they reach for.

You can read about Apollinaire and calligrams in resources from universities such as the Poetry Foundation (a widely used educational nonprofit resource).

Eugen Gomringer’s “silencio” – definition by subtraction

Swiss‑Bolivian poet Eugen Gomringer is a central figure in concrete poetry. In his poem “silencio,” the word silencio appears repeated in a block, with a blank space carved out in the middle. The empty center is the silence.

Teachers love this piece as an example of the definition of concrete poetry:

• The visual gap on the page literally shows silence.
• The repetition of the word builds a wall of sound around that silence.

When people list examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry, “silencio” usually shows up because it’s so minimal, so clear, and so easy to explain to students.

Mary Ellen Solt’s “Forsythia” – flowers made of letters

American poet Mary Ellen Solt created several concrete poems shaped like flowers. In “Forsythia,” the text radiates outward in thin, twig-like lines, mimicking the plant’s branches and blossoms. The language describes the plant’s sudden, bright bloom, while the shape visually bursts from the center.

Solt’s work is often cited in academic contexts (you’ll find references in many university syllabi and archives such as Indiana University’s collections) as a real example that aligns almost perfectly with standard definitions of concrete poetry.

Modern and digital examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry

Concrete poetry didn’t retire with typewriters and dusty anthologies. If anything, screens have given it new toys to play with.

Instagram and TikTok layouts – concrete poetry in your feed

Scroll Instagram or TikTok in 2024–2025 and you’ll spot poems where:

• Lines form spirals that you have to rotate your phone to read.
• Text stacks into staircases for poems about climbing or struggle.
• Words fade in size and opacity in image editors to mimic distance or memory.

These posts are modern examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry because the layout is not just aesthetic; it’s part of the meaning. A poem about anxiety might be packed into a tight, claustrophobic block of text, while a poem about freedom might scatter lines across negative space.

Even when these poets never use the term concrete poetry in their captions, their work still functions as real examples of the same idea: the visual form carries the emotional weight.

Interactive web poems – when your cursor finishes the line

Some digital poets now build interactive pages where the poem:

• Rearranges itself when you move your mouse.
• Reveals hidden lines only when you hover or tap.
• Uses scrolling to stretch or compress words.

For instance, a poem about forgetting might blur or fade words as you scroll down. The poem’s meaning depends on that behavior. These are powerful examples of how the definition of concrete poetry has expanded in the digital age: the “page” is now a screen, and motion or interaction can be part of the visual structure.

University digital‑humanities labs (for example, projects hosted by MIT and other research‑focused institutions) often study these as contemporary examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry in electronic literature.

Typographic posters and gallery pieces

You’ll also see concrete poetry in graphic‑design contexts:

• Event posters where the word echo is repeated, shrinking into the distance.
• Gallery walls where a poem about a city is stacked like a skyline.
• Zines where a breakup poem splits into two columns, literally pulling apart.

These are not just “design with words.” They’re examples include situations where the text layout is the poem’s core structure. Designers sometimes come to concrete poetry from the visual side, but they end up producing some of the best examples for explaining the concept to visual learners.

So what does the definition actually say?

After seeing all those examples, the definition starts to feel obvious:

Concrete poetry is poetry in which the visual arrangement of words, letters, and spaces is as important to the meaning as the words themselves.

In other words, if you changed the layout back to plain left‑aligned lines, you’d lose something important. That’s the key test people use when sorting examples of concrete poetry from poems that are just slightly fancy-looking.

When textbooks or educational sites (including many .edu resources) define concrete poetry, their examples include:

• Shape poems that literally resemble their subject.
• Minimalist blocks or grids where repetition and spacing carry the idea.
• Digital poems where screen behavior (scrolling, tapping, animating) contributes to meaning.

The best examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry are the ones where you can’t separate meaning from form without breaking the poem.

More specific, vivid examples you can picture instantly

To make this really stick, here are several more real examples you can visualize, even if you’re just reading about them.

The staircase argument poem

Picture a poem about a heated argument. Each line steps down the page like stairs:

I won’t

  I can’t

    I didn’t

      I never said that

The layout looks like someone storming down a staircase. If you shoved all those lines back into one paragraph, you’d lose the sense of escalation and descent. That stair‑step layout is a clean example of concrete poetry in practice.

The heartbeat love poem

Now imagine a short love poem where the words are spaced so the text forms a jagged line, like a heart monitor reading. The highs and lows of the relationship are reflected in the peaks and drops of that line. People often share pieces like this on social media as real examples of visually driven poetry.

Again, it’s not just cute formatting. The rhythm of reading — your eye jumping up and down — mirrors the emotional roller coaster. That’s why teachers and bloggers sometimes use it as one of their examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry for beginners.

The blackout city poem

In a blackout poem, you take an existing page of text and black out most of the words, leaving a new poem visible. If the remaining words form the silhouette of a city skyline, for a poem about urban life, you’ve just built a hybrid:

• Found poetry for the language.
• Concrete poetry for the visual shape.

Art educators and writing instructors, including many at public schools and colleges, use blackout poems as accessible examples include exercises in concrete poetry. They’re hands‑on, visual, and easy to adapt for different ages.

For teachers building lesson plans, general literacy guidance and arts‑integration ideas can be found via organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts, which often highlights creative ways text and image intersect.

The anxiety spiral

A poem about anxiety starts with a single word in the center: worry. Then the lines spiral outward around it, getting longer, messier, and more fragmented as they go. To read the whole thing, you actually have to turn the page in circles.

Readers feel the dizziness of the spiral while reading. That physical movement is part of the experience, making this a striking example of concrete poetry’s definition in real life.

How 2024–2025 trends are reshaping the best examples

The core idea of concrete poetry hasn’t changed, but the best examples people share in 2024–2025 look different from those in old anthologies.

Screens over paper

Most new examples of concrete poetry now appear:

• On phones and tablets.
• Inside design tools like Canva or Procreate.
• Embedded in websites and apps.

This shift means:

• Color, animation, and layering are now part of the toolkit.
• Poets think about how a poem looks in both light and dark mode.
• Accessibility (font size, contrast, screen readers) becomes part of the design conversation.

Universities and libraries, including many in the U.S. and U.K., are starting to archive digital poetry as seriously as print, treating these as real examples of contemporary poetic practice.

Collaboration between poets and designers

Some of the best examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry now come from collaborations:

• A poet drafts the text and basic structure.
• A designer refines layout, typography, and motion.

The result might be a motion poster, a looping short video, or a scroll‑based experience. These pieces still fit the definition because the visual structure is inseparable from the meaning.

AI‑assisted layout (yes, including tools like this one)

Poets are also experimenting with AI tools that suggest layouts or generate typographic variations. The poet still decides what feels right, but the experimentation process speeds up.

When these AI‑assisted works succeed, they function as examples include cases where technology doesn’t replace creativity; it just gives more ways to embody the same old definition: meaning lives in both the words and the way they inhabit the page.

How to build your own example of concrete poetry

If you want to create your own example of concrete poetry, think like both a writer and a designer.

Start with a concept that has a strong visual or spatial feeling:

• Falling
• Growing
• Breaking apart
• Echoing
• Spiraling

Then ask: How could the layout mimic that feeling?

A few guiding questions many teachers and workshop leaders use when helping students create examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry:

• If your poem were a silhouette, what shape would it be?
• Where could you use empty space to say something that words can’t?
• What happens if you repeat a single word and only change its position on the page?

You don’t need fancy software. Even a word processor that lets you adjust alignment, spacing, and font size can produce real examples of concrete poems. For classroom contexts, literacy and arts‑education resources from sites like ReadWriteThink.org often suggest similar approaches, blending creative writing with visual thinking.

FAQ: common questions about concrete poetry examples

What are some easy classroom examples of concrete poetry?

Easy examples of concrete poetry for classrooms include shape poems like a fish made of ocean words, a tree made of nature words, or a rocket made of space vocabulary. Students write short poems, then arrange the lines to outline that shape. These are straightforward examples include activities that show how layout and meaning connect.

How do I know if my poem is really an example of concrete poetry?

Ask yourself: if I stripped away the layout and printed this as regular left‑aligned lines, would the poem lose something important? If the answer is yes, you probably have a solid example of concrete poetry. If the layout is just decorative and the poem reads the same either way, it might be more like illustrated text than a true concrete poem.

Are digital and animated poems valid examples of concrete poetry?

Yes. Many scholars and educators now treat digital works — including animated text and interactive layouts — as real examples of concrete poetry, as long as the visual behavior is tied to meaning. The same definition applies; the page just happens to move.

Where can I study more real examples of concrete poems?

You can explore:

• Online archives and educational nonprofits like the Poetry Foundation for historical and modern examples.
• University literature and creative‑writing pages (for instance, resources linked from Harvard University) that discuss form and structure.
• Arts and education organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts for broader context on text‑and‑image work.

These sources regularly highlight some of the best examples of examples of definition of concrete poetry, from classic print pieces to experimental digital projects.