This week, my middle group had a great Poetry Workshop, and one of the activities that Raquel proposed us, had to do with the creation of Shape Poetry. In this case, we had to find inspiration using a model that she provided, and there where up to six different types of shape poetry for us to explore.

But, what is shape poetry? in Spanish we know it as caligrama, and according to Wikipedia, it is

A poem, phrase, or word […] arranged in a way that creates a visual image. The image created by the words expresses visually what the word, or words, say. In a poem, it manifests visually the theme presented by the text of the poem.

In my opinion, it is a great resource to present poetry to our pupils in a different way to the ‘create two verses that rhyme’. It is very visual, catchy and interesting. In this case, the poem can be enjoyed not only by listening to, or reading the words, but also by understanding the message that the picture is provoking.

It could be said that the words layout provide a visual clue to understand the poem. Moreover, it can engage those students whose visual-spatial intelligence is more developed than their linguistic intelligence, as they can create poems using few words.

Here you can find some examples taken from the blog “El baúl de las palabras”, created by a literature teacher from IES Federico García Lorca, in La Puebla de Cazalla (Sevilla). They are the proof that, with the proper guidance, pupils or young students can create beautiful poetry.

Furthermore, there are some artists who are able to create amazing designs, such as those by Joni James, in which she uses the names of the parts of the object she is ‘drawing’ to recreate it, as you can see on the bicycle, or words related to the topic, as in the guitar and the heart.

The next question is, can it be used in the classroom with Primary Education pupils? I would say yes. Although the examples above are more elaborated, there are simpler ideas (like the ones we created in class), that can help us teachers, to introduce poetry in the classroom in a really enjoyable and catchy way.

I hope you like the post. I encourage you to explore the topic, and also to have a look at Joni James’ gallery, where you will find authentic works/words or art.

Have a nice week!

Sources:

Blog “El Baúl de las palabras”. IES Federico García Lorca (La Puebla de Cazalla, Sevilla) http://lorcaelbauldelaspalabras.blogspot.com.es/2014/02/caligramas-en-ingles.html

Joni James Calligrams https://www.etsy.com/es/people/jonijames

Wikipedia (Definition of Calligram) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligram