Post by paintedlady on Feb 19, 2009 15:36:35 GMT
Experimental poetry which emerged during the 1950-1960s and concentrated on the visual appearance of the words on the page. It featured new typographical arrangements, shape poems and the use of collage etc. It owed much to early figure poems such as The Altar and Easter-Wings by George Herbert [see below]. The effect of Concrete Poetry is lost when the poem is read aloud.
The Altar
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with tears:
Whose parts, are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touched the same.
A HEART alone
Is much a stone,
As nothing but
Thy power doth cut,
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That, if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with tears:
Whose parts, are as thy hand did frame;
No workman’s tool hath touched the same.
A HEART alone
Is much a stone,
As nothing but
Thy power doth cut,
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That, if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine