Graphematic Emblems in Selected Poems by John Hollander Sahar Abdul Ameer Haraj Al-Husseini

Abstract

Graphematic poem  or shape poem or  pattern poem, like any other poem,   is a  poem  that discusses diverse and common  subjects like love,  idea, time and many other topics ; yet with a certain difference that is the subject is similar to the printed format of the text. To say that it  presents a picture of certain  familiar object that is  similarly the subject of the poem.  Such poems are likewise termed shaped verse. They are not new for they are  part of a long convention that ranges from Alexandrian Greek poets to Lewis Carroll and beyond. John Hollander(1929 –2013) is an American poet who wrote pattern poetry with a variety of diverse themes . His Types of Shape (1969) offers  twenty-five shaped poems in the convention of George Herbert, a seventeenth century English poet. Graphematic poems must also  to a certain degree  own their special self-reflective picture in so far as  the shape as well as the  content are concerned. They show a wide array of themes and Hollander's graphematic poems show fascinating investigates with unbending forms that undermine the authority of his writing.  Hollander in  uniting content and form supports  creating  one authoritative outcome in the field of poetry.