Foreword and Introduction

Abstract

Visual poetry is usually approached from a "formalist" critical viewpoint which attempts to classify works based on the ways that they work with the "negative" page space, how they graphically alter the conventional signifying functions of poetic language. Such approaches all too commonly lack a sufficient appreciation of the cultural, social and political dimensions of visual poetry. Furthermore, since visual poetry uses elements from the visual arts and from poetic language, theories based primarily in one or the other of these media can not do justice to the visual poem. The present anthology, therefore, is international in scope, forcing a comparatist critical methodology and thereby laying the basis for a fuller theory of visual poetry, one which takes into account questions of place, history and specific cultural formation. Seven countries are represented (Brazil, Cuba, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Uruguay, United States). Short introductions and selected references, prepared by the country curators, are included.