I remember seeing “word art” or what is called “calligramme” in some of the book-shop windows in Paris (“calli-” in French having the same root as the word “calligraphy” in English). A poem can be written in an arrangement that creates a visual image or “art”.
It was revelatory.
It’s sometimes called “visual poetry” – the poet Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a book with many calligrammes – one of these very vivid images made of words is called “Il pleut” (it is raining).
In the “Madeleine travels … ” series, we spent many weekend afternoons letting our imaginations run. We loved creating the word art about each of the cities …
We at Madeleine’s enjoyed creating them … we hope you enjoy them!
