Examples of Concrete Poetry: 3 Engaging Examples (Plus More to Steal From)

Let’s start with three of the best-known, most engaging examples of concrete poetry—the kind that show up in literature classes and still feel surprisingly modern.

1. George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” – the OG wing-shaped poem

One of the oldest examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples almost always includes George Herbert’s 17th-century poem “Easter Wings.” The poem is printed sideways, so the lines stretch out like two wings across the page. As the speaker’s spiritual state worsens, the lines get shorter and thinner, visually collapsing inward. As hope returns, the lines widen again.

The shape isn’t just decorative. The poem’s shrinking and expanding mirrors the emotional and religious journey inside the text. This is a perfect example of how concrete poetry fuses form and meaning: you don’t just read the poem—you see the struggle and lift-off.

If you want to see how scholars talk about Herbert’s work, check out resources from major universities like the British Library’s overview of devotional poetry (UK-based but widely used in US classrooms).

2. Guillaume Apollinaire’s calligram “Il Pleut” – words falling like rain

Another of the best-known examples of concrete poetry comes from French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. His calligrams (visual poems) helped set the stage for modern concrete poetry. In “Il Pleut” (It’s Raining), the words cascade down the page in vertical streams, like rain on a window.

You can read the lines in multiple ways: top to bottom, stream by stream, or even diagonally as your eye drifts. The layout forces you to experience the poem as a visual storm. This is one of the best examples of how concrete poetry can mimic movement—your eye literally “falls” down the page.

Apollinaire’s work is often discussed in modernist literature courses; many university English departments, such as those listed through University of Chicago’s poetry resources (via Poetry Foundation, a widely cited nonprofit), use his calligrams as classic examples of early visual poetry.

3. E.E. Cummings’ playful layouts – when punctuation becomes architecture

E.E. Cummings isn’t always labeled a concrete poet, but several of his poems are textbook examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples material. Think of his poem that begins “l(a”, where the words and letters are broken into fragments that drift down the page, echoing a leaf falling.

The text reads something like:

l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)

The shape looks like a slim vertical fall, a visual example of meaning embedded in form. You could typeset the same words in a normal block, but it would lose the entire effect—the feeling of gravity, the slow descent, the slight confusion as you piece the word back together.

Cummings’ work is frequently analyzed in American literature courses at universities such as Harvard University (see their poetry research guides), where his page layouts are highlighted as early examples of visual experimentation.

Modern examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples for the digital age

Concrete poetry didn’t stop with dusty old books and sideways printing. Some of the best examples now live on screens, in galleries, and on social media. Here are three more engaging examples of concrete poetry that feel very 2024.

4. Instagram visual poems – the grid as a page

If you want real, current examples of concrete poetry, open Instagram or TikTok and search for visual poets. Plenty of contemporary poets use the square grid like a mini canvas. Think of a poem shaped like a heart, but instead of cheesy clip art, it’s built from sharp, minimal lines about heartbreak, repetition, or healing.

One common example of this style is the spiral poem: a short line repeated over and over, circling inward until it becomes almost unreadable, mirroring obsession or anxiety. Another popular layout is the staircase poem, where each line steps down the screen, mimicking someone walking away or descending into a problem.

These social-media poems are modern examples of concrete poetry because they rely on layout, whitespace, and typography to add meaning. The platform itself becomes part of the poem’s structure.

5. Visual poems in classrooms – coffee cups, trees, and sneakers

Teachers love concrete poetry because it’s a sneaky way to get students writing. In many US classrooms, you’ll see examples include:

• A poem shaped like a coffee cup, with words about late nights, deadlines, and caffeine dependency wrapping around the rim.
• A tree-shaped poem, where the trunk is a single vertical line about roots or family, and the branches spread into phrases about dreams, future, or chaos.
• A sneaker-shaped poem, lines tracing the outline of a shoe, packed with words about speed, escape, or identity.

These classroom projects are very real examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples and then some. They show how even beginning writers can let the topic dictate the shape. When a student writes about anxiety in the form of a tightening spiral, the page itself starts to feel anxious.

For educators looking to integrate this form, organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English often share lesson ideas that feature concrete and visual poetry as engaging models.

6. Digital concrete poetry – animated text and interactive layouts

Digital tools have exploded what counts as the best examples of concrete poetry. Poets now use animation, coding, and interactive design to make words move, fade, or respond to user input.

A few modern examples include:

• A poem where the words scatter like birds when you move your cursor, then slowly regroup into a sentence.
• A text that pulses or flickers, matching the rhythm of a heartbeat or a panic attack.
• A poem that reshapes itself on different screen sizes, so the layout on a phone feels cramped and intense, while on a laptop it breathes with more whitespace.

These are cutting-edge examples of concrete poetry because the visual experience changes the meaning. You’re not just reading; you’re interacting. University digital humanities programs, such as those highlighted on MIT’s digital humanities pages and other research centers, often showcase these interactive works as contemporary examples of how poetry, design, and code intersect.

How to recognize strong examples of concrete poetry (and steal their tricks)

By now, we’ve walked through more than 3 engaging examples, but let’s pull out what makes these examples of concrete poetry actually work.

Look for at least one of these signals:

• The shape adds meaning. Herbert’s wings expand and contract with the emotional arc. A coffee-cup poem feels crowded at the top, like steam and thoughts colliding.
• Whitespace is doing real work. In Cummings’ leaf poem, the gaps force your brain to slow down and reconstruct the word. In Instagram spiral poems, blank space becomes the feeling of spinning out.
• Reading order is flexible. In Apollinaire’s “Il Pleut,” you can read each stream separately or as a whole curtain of text. Many digital examples of concrete poetry let you choose where your eye lands first.
• Typography isn’t random. Bold, tiny, scattered, or vertically stacked text all serve a purpose. If the font or size changes, it should echo the poem’s mood or message.

When you study the best examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples or ten, ask yourself: If I typeset this like a normal paragraph, what would disappear? Whatever vanishes—that’s the concrete part.

More real examples of concrete poetry you can try yourself

If you’re itching to write, here are more real examples you can use as templates. Think of them as starter shapes:

The tornado poem

Imagine a poem about stress, burnout, or information overload. You start with wide, scattered lines at the top of the page, then slowly tighten them into a narrow funnel—words crowding together as the poem descends. By the bottom, you might have a single, overloaded word like “ENOUGH.”

This is a vivid example of concrete poetry because the shape mirrors the emotional spiral. The reader can see the storm forming.

The heartbeat line

Picture a long horizontal line of text, mostly short phrases, with occasional spikes of BIG CAPITAL WORDS or jagged, staggered text. It mimics a heart monitor’s peaks and valleys.

For a poem about fear, love, or medical anxiety, this becomes a literal line of life. Medical and health-focused writing often uses visual metaphors like this; while it’s not the same as clinical guidance from sources like Mayo Clinic or NIH, it taps into imagery people associate with health data and heart rhythms.

The city block

For a poem about city life, you can arrange short phrases into rectangles, like apartment windows. Each block of text is a different voice: the insomniac, the night-shift worker, the gamer, the new parent.

The page starts to look like a skyline at night—little lit squares of language. This kind of layout is a strong example of how concrete poetry can suggest setting without a single “It was a dark and stormy night” line.

Why concrete poetry still matters in 2024–2025

In a world where people scroll faster than they breathe, visual poems have an advantage: they stop you. A striking layout—spiral, wing, coffee cup, city block—can grab attention in a feed full of text blocks.

Recent years have seen:

• More poets sharing examples of concrete poetry on social platforms, where the poem’s shape is instantly visible.
• Teachers using the form to engage students who think they “hate poetry,” because drawing a shape feels way less intimidating than writing a sonnet.
• Designers and copywriters borrowing concrete-poetry tricks for posters, campaigns, and even mental-health awareness graphics.

Visual forms like concrete poetry can be especially powerful in campaigns around mental health and emotional wellbeing, where layout can mirror feelings like tension, isolation, or release. While organizations like the National Institute of Mental Health and CDC focus on evidence-based guidance, artists often use concrete poetry to give those statistics and concepts an emotional, human texture.

All of this means that examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples are not just historical curiosities—they’re templates for how language, design, and emotion can share the same stage.

FAQ: examples of concrete poetry and how to write your own

What are some famous examples of concrete poetry?

Famous examples of concrete poetry include George Herbert’s “Easter Wings,” Guillaume Apollinaire’s calligram “Il Pleut,” and several visually experimental poems by E.E. Cummings, such as the leaf-fall poem “l(a.” More recent examples include digital and Instagram-based visual poems that use spirals, grids, and shapes like hearts or circles to reinforce the poem’s theme.

Can you give a simple example of concrete poetry I can try?

A simple example of concrete poetry you can try: write a short poem about a flame, then arrange the lines so they form a rough triangle—narrow at the top, wider at the base. Use shorter, sharper words at the tip ("spark,” “flare") and longer phrases at the bottom ("everything it almost burned"). The shape and word choice work together to suggest fire.

Are shape poems and concrete poems the same thing?

Shape poems are often examples of concrete poetry, but not all concrete poems are simple outlines of objects. A shape poem usually traces the silhouette of something (like a fish or a tree). Concrete poetry can be more abstract: spirals, scattered words, columns, or experimental layouts that don’t look like a specific object but still use visual form to add meaning.

Do I need special software to make concrete poetry?

No. Many classic examples of concrete poetry were created with nothing more than a typewriter and patience. Today, you can use basic word processors, design tools like Canva, or even note-taking apps that let you move text around. For animated or interactive examples of digital concrete poetry, you might use coding environments (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) or visual tools designed for interactive art.

How many words should a concrete poem have?

There’s no fixed rule. Some of the best examples of concrete poetry: 3 engaging examples we’ve looked at are very short (Cummings’ leaf poem is only a handful of words), while others, like city-block or tornado poems, can be longer. Focus less on word count and more on whether the layout actually adds something to the meaning. If the shape feels forced, cut the text or change the design.

If you remember nothing else, remember this: the strongest examples of concrete poetry make you feel like the poem could not exist in any other form. Change the layout, and you break the spell. That’s your north star when you start creating your own.