Calligram vs Concrete Poetry
カリグラム / 具体詩／コンクリート・ポエトリー
Calligram comes from Lettering and Concrete Poetry from Experimental Typography. One is technique and the other layout. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Calligram
Arranges words into the shape of what they say, so that reading and seeing happen in the same moment.
Concrete Poetry
Treats the placement, repetition, blank space and sound of words as the poem itself, not only what they mean.
| Calligram | Concrete Poetry | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | antiquity–modernism | 1950s–1970s |
| Family | Lettering | Experimental Typography |
| Kind | Technique | Layout |
| Cues | Text drawing a contour / Shifting reading direction / Meaningful blank space / Poem fused with figure | Repeated words / Shapes made of letters / Large blanks / Dismantled reading order |
| Best used for | Making a short poem or title physically felt · A symbolic image from letters alone | Print pieces where a few words carry the reading speed and the pauses · Exhibitions and wall works that take language itself as the subject |
| Type | One face or one hand, keeping the words continuous | One face at one size, emphasis from position and repetition only |
| Composition | Convert the sentence into contour, path and density; mark where reading begins | Place words on a grid so reading can start from any direction |
| Material | Letter and paper as two colors; the shape itself is the star | White paper and one black ink, quality carried by register and margin |
| Caution | Don't fix a silhouette first and stuff words in. Let the text's rhythm generate the form. | When making a shape comes first, the meaning of the words stops answering their position, and the piece is only letters poured into a picture. |