Striking Examples of 3 Famous Concrete Poems You Should Know

Concrete poetry is the drama kid of the poetry world: it refuses to stand still in neat little lines. Instead, the poem’s shape becomes part of its message. Before we talk theory, let’s jump straight into three of the best-known examples.

These examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know all do something slightly different with shape, sound, and meaning, but they share one thing: you remember them long after you’ve closed the book.

1. “Swan and Shadow” by John Hollander – Reflection as a Shape

John Hollander’s “Swan and Shadow” is a modern classroom favorite and one of the best examples of how layout can carry emotional weight.

The poem is arranged so that the top half forms the silhouette of a swan gliding across water, while the bottom half mirrors it as a reflection. The text isn’t just decorative: the words above describe the swan on the surface; the words below echo and distort that imagery, like ripples in a pond.

Why it belongs among the examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know:

• It’s readable as a poem and recognizable as a picture. You don’t need a label to see the swan.
• The mirrored structure reinforces the theme of reflection—both literal (water) and metaphorical (memory, time passing).
• Teachers love it because it’s a clean, accessible example of visual form supporting meaning.

If you’re studying poem structures, “Swan and Shadow” is the perfect example of how to design a poem that would collapse if you stripped away the layout. The reflection isn’t optional; it’s the point.

2. “Apple” by George Herbert (from “The Temple") – Devotion in a Shape

George Herbert, a 17th-century poet and priest, is often filed under “religious poetry,” but he was also an early experimenter in shaped verse. While his most famous shaped poem is “Easter Wings,” many modern anthologies and courses highlight his apple-shaped poem from “The Temple” as a clear, approachable concrete form.

In this poem, the lines are carefully arranged to form the outline of an apple—narrow at the top, rounded in the middle, tapering at the bottom. The text itself meditates on spiritual nourishment, temptation, and grace. The apple shape taps into a long tradition of symbolic fruit: knowledge, sin, and, in Herbert’s hands, redemption.

Why this sits comfortably among the examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know:

• It shows that concrete poetry isn’t just a 20th-century experiment; the roots go back centuries.
• The shape (apple) ties directly into the poem’s content (temptation, spiritual hunger).
• It’s a great bridge between older devotional poetry and modern visual verse.

If you’re building a lesson plan or essay and need real examples of concrete poems across time, Herbert gives you a historical anchor that still feels visually striking on the page.

For more on Herbert in a literary context, you can explore resources from universities like Harvard’s English Department which often reference his work in discussions of early modern poetry.

3. “Star” by Mary Ellen Solt – Language as Constellation

Mary Ellen Solt was one of the major voices in 20th-century concrete poetry, and her poem “Star” is a favorite in discussions of visual verse. Instead of a simple block of text, “Star” radiates outward from a central point, creating a starburst on the page.

The words themselves are sparse and carefully chosen, often repeating in patterns that mimic the idea of light spreading through space. You don’t just read the poem; your eyes travel along its rays. The star shape turns a short text into a visual event.

Why “Star” rounds out these examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know:

• It shows how minimal text can still create a powerful visual and emotional effect.
• The layout forces you to read nonlinearly—outward, around, and back again—like tracing constellations.
• It’s a strong example when you want to compare older shaped verse (like Herbert) with mid-20th-century experiments.

Solt’s work is often discussed in academic contexts; you’ll sometimes see it referenced in modern poetry syllabi at institutions like Yale University’s English Department when they cover visual and experimental poetry.

Beyond the Big Three: More Real Examples of Concrete Poems

Once you’ve met these examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know, it’s hard not to start seeing shapes everywhere. To give you a fuller sense of the field, here are more real examples that frequently show up in textbooks, workshops, and university courses.

George Herbert’s “Easter Wings”

Yes, we already mentioned Herbert, but “Easter Wings” deserves its own spotlight. The poem is printed sideways so that the lines form two wing-like shapes. The text narrows in the middle (representing human fall and suffering) and widens again (symbolizing spiritual renewal).

This is one of the best examples for showing students how line length and shape can mirror emotional movement—from despair to hope.

Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Il Pleut” ("It’s Raining")

Apollinaire’s poem scatters its words down the page in thin vertical streams, like rain falling. The text talks about sorrow, letters, and memory, but the layout does half the storytelling. You feel the downward pull visually.

In many modern guides, examples include “Il Pleut” when they want to show how even a simple vertical arrangement can turn a short poem into a visual experience.

E. E. Cummings’ Experiments

Cummings isn’t always labeled a “concrete poet,” but multiple poems of his flirt with concrete techniques: fragmented words, scattered punctuation, and unusual spacing that makes the page feel like a field instead of a grid.

If you’re looking for a broader example of how layout can bend meaning, his work is a natural stepping stone from traditional poetry into fully visual forms.

Mary Ellen Solt’s “Forsythia” and “Flowers in Concrete”

Solt didn’t stop at stars. In “Forsythia,” she arranges the word “forsythia” and related text into the form of a branching plant. The letters seem to bloom on the page. Her collection Flowers in Concrete is a go-to resource when you want real examples of concrete poems that lean into botanical imagery.

These pieces are frequently cited in scholarly discussions of visual poetry, and you’ll see them referenced in academic contexts such as Indiana University’s materials on modern poetry.

Why These Are the Best Examples for Learning Concrete Poetry

If you’re hunting for examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know for an essay, a class, or your own writing practice, you want poems that do three things:

• Look like something recognizable. A swan, an apple, a star, wings, rain—your brain can latch onto the image.
• Say something that matches the shape. Reflection in a mirrored swan, temptation in an apple, radiance in a star.
• Hold up under close reading. They’re not just visual stunts; the language carries weight.

“Swan and Shadow,” “Apple,” and “Star” hit all three marks. When you add *“Easter Wings,” “Il Pleut,” and Solt’s flower poems, you get a set of real examples that show different eras, languages, and styles, all united by the same core idea: form is meaning.

Concrete Poetry in 2024–2025: Screens, Fonts, and Moving Text

Concrete poetry didn’t retire when everyone got a smartphone. If anything, the digital era has given it new toys.

Recent trends (2024–2025) include:

• Digital concrete poems that animate on screen—words sliding into place to form a shape, then scattering again.
• Interactive poems where you drag or click words to rearrange the shape and text.
• Social media experiments where poets use line breaks, emojis, and spacing to create visual patterns in a single post.

Many creative writing programs and online courses now encourage students to design concrete poems using basic layout tools, from word processors to design software. The same principles you see in the classic examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know still apply: the shape has to earn its keep.

If you’re teaching or studying in the U.S., you’ll see concrete poetry folded into broader literacy and arts standards that emphasize visual interpretation and multimodal texts. Organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts regularly support projects that mix text and visual design, which is exactly the playground concrete poetry loves.

How to Use These Examples in Your Own Writing

Once you’ve studied these best examples, it’s tempting to immediately write a poem shaped like your favorite snack. (No judgment. A potato-shaped poem could be weirdly powerful.) To keep your work from turning into a gimmick, borrow a few moves from the famous pieces:

• Start with the concept, not the shape. Ask what your poem is really about—grief, joy, distance, memory. Then ask what shape expresses that feeling.
• Let the layout guide pacing. Wider sections can feel expansive or loud; narrow sections can feel tense or quiet.
• Use repetition strategically. Like Solt’s “Star,” repeating words along different rays can create rhythm and visual unity.
• Test it in plain text. If you strip away the shape and the poem completely collapses, revise until the language has its own backbone.

Try writing your own example of a concrete poem inspired by “Swan and Shadow”: pick an image with a built-in reflection—moon and water, building and shadow, person and mirror—and see how mirroring the text changes the emotional tone.

FAQ: Concrete Poetry and Famous Examples

What are some classic examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know for school?

Three widely taught examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know are:

• “Swan and Shadow” by John Hollander (a swan and its reflection)
• The apple-shaped poem from George Herbert’s “The Temple” (often grouped with “Easter Wings” in discussions of shaped verse)
• “Star” by Mary Ellen Solt (a radiating star pattern)

Teachers often pair these with “Easter Wings” and Apollinaire’s “Il Pleut” to give students a range of historical and stylistic approaches.

Can you give an example of a simple concrete poem for beginners?

A very simple example of a concrete poem is one shaped like a raindrop. You start with longer lines at the top and gradually shorten them until they form a point at the bottom. The text can describe rain, falling, or a single moment dripping away. This kind of beginner-friendly example of concrete poetry is often used in middle school and high school classrooms.

How are these examples used in education today?

Concrete poems show up in creative writing courses, visual arts units, and English classes that focus on multimodal texts. Many U.S. schools use them to help students connect reading, writing, and visual interpretation. For broader context on how reading and language skills develop (including visual literacy), resources from institutions like the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH can be helpful.

Are all shaped poems considered concrete poems?

Not automatically. A poem might be arranged in a shape just for decoration. Concrete poetry goes further: the shape, the words, and the meaning are tightly linked. That’s why the best examples, including the examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know listed above, are studied again and again—the visual form isn’t an afterthought; it’s part of the poem’s thinking.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: the strongest examples of 3 famous concrete poems you should know—Hollander’s swan, Herbert’s apple, Solt’s star—are doing the same magic trick. They make you see the poem before you’ve even read a word, and then they reward you when you finally do.