Concrete Poetry: A Linguistic Technique for the Foreign Language Classroom

Evelyn F. Brod University of Cincinnati

.4BSTRACT Concrere Poeir). I S a r,isiral poerrj. f o r m uhich ilia>' he used in [he .foreign language classroom. Ir is an ancienr .form popular srill in modern times and in all langirages. ThiJ article ex- plains what concrere poerr?' is, and discusseJ how io teach the creation of a concretepoet?i to foreign language classes. I! begins tcirh an iniroducriori o.f ho IV concrere poems were presenred in lurioits language classes, continues brief!,. wilh rhe hisror?, and background 0.f concrere poerr)., and concludes wirh rechniques f o r irnplettienrarion.

Background and Introduction Some years ago I presented a lecture on "Con-

crete Poetry" to a faculty forum at the college \\here I teach. I used slides that the staff of the audio-visual section of o u r library had made to il- lustrate the talk.

That spring I introduced the topic 10 my advanc- ed composition and conversation course, partially composed of students I had had the previous year in an elementary course, newcomers, and one facul- ty member. Their efforts resulted in a booklet of concrete peoms which I photocopied and disseminated to them. The pride they felt in ha\.- ing a tangible product of their own creation \\-as a relvarding result of the project. I also presented the technique in my elementary Spanish class (five credit hours) that same spring, and those results Here positive too.

I h a \ e used concrete poetry in >uh;cquent !ears. and hair . found i t to be a n e\celli.nt tool for pic- torially representing \ocabular! and concept in a graphic poetic metaphor. I once g a \ e a lecture on the topic to a college English c h i s . and those students too \ \ere able to see \\ords-including foreign ones-with new eyes. Jusr \+hat is concrete poetry, and hon can i r be used a < a technique in the foreign language classroom?

B E S 0 0 2 M BES a a

Beso = K I < \

256 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS

metaphor. One is carried from one side "to the other side" directly. Concrete poems, then, are visual metaphors. Thus we can say that concrete poetry is a metaphor in space, imagery that is fixed without being stereotyped, images to meditate upon and with which to ponder or perhaps discover one's identity. The concrete poem forces us to perceive in a way other than horizontally, as we perceive with the written word. We must see the totality, the Gestalt, the poem as a whole. Concrete poetry is often playful yet may still be concerned with the sociological, the political, the psychological. There are three kinds of concrete poetry, the visual (op- tic), the phonetic (sound), and the kinetic (movement).6

M

CE E

D R O A

Mecedora = Rocking ChaiI

Juan 0. Valencia, Signo .L' sentrrnienro (Cincinnati, OH: Uni\ . of Cincinnati, 1976). p. 14.

Definition and Sources In simplest terms, concrete poetry is a poem as

a picture. Let us recall that poetry, from the Greek POIEO ( 0 1 R ), means to make or to create.' The poem is a creation. Traditional poems use words, often with rhyme and meter. The concrete poem rejects the traditional linear use of the word, and instead uses it to shape a poem. Con- crete poetry underlines McLuhan's thesis that "the medium is the massage."2 Modern concrete poems stem from the 1 9 2 0 ' ~ . ~ Concrete poetry is found in many languages, notably Chinese, French, Ger- man, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, as well as others, so that it is a device that we as teachers may use in any foreign language. As Mary Ellen Solt explains, Augusto de Campos of Brazil coined the term "concrete poetry" in 1955.' Con- crete poetry is concerned with structure and visual space more than with the movement of time. The meaning of the poem is intimately related to the form in a metaphorical relationship.5 In a metaphorical relationship the meaning is always figurative, as in describing a robust person to be an oak, or as in the example "Mary is a rose," where Mary is not like a rose (simile, i.e. similar) but she is, indeed, equal to a rose, she is a rose. Here the relationship is direct, not a symbol, but the sign itself. This is truly the impact of the

(Words in center of tomb and bottom line of repeated feu done in red)

Saoul = Intoxicated, drunk, satiated Feu = Fire Le soldat inconnu = The unknown soldier Brfile = Burns

Henri Chopin, Concrete Poetry: A World View (Bloorn- ington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1971), p. 165.

SEPTEMBER 1983 251

Wurrn in Apfel

Apfel = Apple Wurm = \\'arm

Aurhor a n d source unknown.

COMER

c Comer = To eat

Juan 0. Valencia, Signo y senfirnienfo (Cincinnati , OH: Univ. of Cincinnati , 1976). p. 18.

Implernenlation and How to Teach TO teach concrete poetry one need not master

all the preceding rather technical information on

without explaining much of the aforementioned, as will be clear from viewing the examples that ac- company this article. When I first present concrete poems in the classroom, I simply explain something about poetry, the difference between metaphor and simile, and the intent of the concrete poem. Then I let the concrete poems speak for themselves. Ex- amples in various languages reinforce vividly, for if the poem is carefully selected, even though the student has no knowledge of the language, he or she will grasp the meaning of the poem.

Next I assign the students to create their own concrete poems. If initial information was presented on Monday, the students' poems would be due on Friday, to allow sufficient time for the creative process to take form. Then the poems are shared. (I spend an entire class period on this.) The class sits in a circle (our usual seating formation), and each person holds up the poem, recites i t , and reveals a bit of the creative process to the class. The instructor may participate in the process by creating his or her own concrete poem, which can also be shown to the class. Common feelings are discovered, and the class and teacher can bathe for one day in the sunshine of their ow? poetry.

I collect all the poems, make enough photocopies for each individual (although photocopying often does not do justice to the multiple colors the poems manifest), and create, for example, a book C i l -

titled in Spanish Poernas Concretos, La clase de espaiiol, 1983. These are given to the class.

- .- - ---

Borrar = To erase

Evelvn F. Brod the subject . Teachers can utilize the concept

258 FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS

(Done in all colors of the rainbow)

c\- J. \

7

.(‘ T‘

c’ \.

\ < H-I.:-C,-C - I- 1:- 1 - i

(Background white. letters red, sunbeam yellow)

Nervioso = Nervous I Arco iris = Rainbou

Calor = Heat Voz = Voice

Source: Students

(Teeth white, lips and tongue red)

Summary and Conclusions Concrete poetry is an effective tool in the foreign

language classroom. It is an aid in the growth of vocabulary, the creation of self-esteem and of con- fidence in the target language, and it is fun while at the same time personally meaningful, as only the creative endeavor can be. The teacher need not be a poet to teach the process nor to create his or her own concrete poem. The class book of poems pro- vides the students and teacher with an artistic crea- tion in the second language in which they have par- ticipated individually and as a group, yielding a cohe. mess, a sharing of feeling and expression i i a language other than their native tongue. Con- crete poetry may be introduced at any language level and with any language, thus providing yet another enjoyable activity for the foreign language classroom.

NOTES ‘Ernest Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dic-

tionary of the English Language (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1971). p. 572.

*Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. The Medium is the Message (New York: Bantam Books, 1967).

3Mary Ellen Solt, ed., Concrete Poetry: A World View (Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1971), p. 11. More information on the history and concept of concrete poetry as well as numerous examples of the poems in many languages and an extensive bibliography can be found in this book.

‘Solt, p. 12. ’Klein. p. 461. “Metaphor” is from the Greek mefa

(META) meaning “to the other side” and phor ( # c P ) meaning Isto carry.”

6Solt. p. 7.