Poetry as a Means for the Structuring of a Social Environment

Abstract

From the outset, the movement of concrete poetry has regarded the poet as a conscious participant in a team of designers dedicated to the aesthetic restructuring of society. To participate, the poet had to study fields not normally associated with poetry, e.g., architecture, advertising graphics, and typography. His contribution in turn has been to provide craftsmen in other fields with models for the solution of their own verbal problems. The goal of such a poetry involves entertainment, but goes beyond the immediacy of this game-activity to include an awakening of aesthetic sensibility, especially to the world of type, print, and sound. A review of the interrelationships between concrete poetry, industrial design, and the plastic arts over the past fifteen years illustrates the sort of team work necessary if poets are to have an active voice in our contemporary society.