Figure poem

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Figure poem in a manuscript from 1638

A figure poem (also calligram or Carmen figuratum ) is a work of art of intermediality , which consists of a poem whose function as a "literary text" is supplemented by the graphic design of the text body as a further functional form element, in addition to the text, which as such is independent of its varying written form exists to build up a visually perceptual object with its own level of meaning and its own expressive value, so that the interaction of poetry and fine art creates a material artefact of ambiguous media affiliation.

history

Greek and Latin figure poems, technopaignia (singular technopaignion , from τέχνη / techne "art" and παίγνιον / paignion "game", "toys", " joke poem "), the text form of which depicts the subject matter, have been known since ancient times .

The traditional Greek Technopaignia are compiled in a collective manuscript and taken from it in Book 15 of the Anthologia Palatina . Famous examples are:

  • Simias: Pteryges ("wings"), Pelekys ("ax"), Oion ("egg")
  • (Pseudo-) Theocritus : Syrinx ("Panpipe", written in a mysterious language)
  • Dosiadas: Bomos ("altar", in riddle language)
  • Besantinos: Bomos ("Altar", in riddle language).

Lattice poems from Egypt are also understood as figure poems . Furthermore, magic formulas or inscriptions (for example in Pompeii ) were often written or drawn in an artistic, sometimes puzzling form.

Figure poem by Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius

Ancient authors of Latin figure poems are Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius , who shows a particular wealth of forms and was decisive for the further development of the genre, or, already on the border with the Middle Ages, Venantius Fortunatus .

Dedication poem to Ludwig the Pious from De laudibus sanctae crucis by Hrabanus Maurus in the manuscript Vienna, Austrian National Library, Cod. 652 (approx. 840)

Especially Christian poets of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages wrote figure poems, mostly as religiously inspired lattice poems ( versus cancellati ). The grid poems consisted of a letter grid, as we know it today from word search puzzles in magazines. As a meter is almost exclusively the dactylic hexameter used, the art is first of all to generate verses of exactly the same number of letters. In addition, there are the so-called “in-texts” with particularly important statements, which are separated out and often highlighted in color within this grid by geometric figures, often in the form of a cross or another Christian motif, or by letters or drawings. The letters marked in this way have a double function, since they are elements of both the basic text and the in-text. The number of letters used was also often based on numerical considerations, so that several levels of meaning can often be found in a single figure poem. In the so-called carmina quadrata , the number of verses corresponds to the number of letters in the verse.

In the early Middle Ages, the figure poem form type enjoyed particular popularity. Authors of such poems, often anonymously transmitted, include Bonifatius , Lull , Alcuin , Theodulf von Orléans , Milo von Saint-Amand , Iosephus Scottus and Eugenius Vulgarius . Unsurpassed in complexity and theological content is the book De laudibus sanctae crucis ("On the praise of the holy cross", 825/826) with 28 cross poems, written by the scholar and later abbot of Fulda monastery and archbishop of Mainz Hrabanus Maurus (780–856 ).

In Byzantine times, the lattice poems were called "woven verses " (στίχοι υφαντοί) because of their interwoven intexts .

The figure poems only experienced their greatest heyday in the mannerist lyric poetry of the Baroque , and numerous poets of the time such as B. Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg and Theodor Kornfeld competed in this field.

More recent examples can be found in the French poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Stéphane Mallarmé (Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard (1897)), in authors of concrete poetry such as Eugen Gomringer , in Ernst Jandl , Erich Fried (z. B. "Timing question") and Christian Morgenstern :

The funnels

Two funnels walk through the night. White moonlight flows quietly and serenely
through their narrowed shaft on their forest path u. s. w.





The figure poem represents one of the possible types of forms of visual poetry and possibly also of concrete poetry .

literature

  • Jeremy Adler et al. Ulrich Ernst: Text as a figure. Visual poetry from ancient times to modern times. Weinheim 3rd edition 1990. ISBN 3-527-17816-3
  • Adelheid Beckmann: Motifs and forms of German poetry of the 17th century. Tübingen 1960 (Hermaea, nF 5)
  • Ulrich Ernst : Carmen figuratum. History of the figure poem from the ancient origins to the end of the Middle Ages , Cologne 1991 (Pictura et poesis 1). ISBN 3-412-03589-0
  • Ulrich Ernst : Figure poem. A. Introduction; B. Middle Ages; C. Early Modern Period; D. Concrete poetry. In: Der Neue Pauly , Vol. 13 (1999), Col. 1115-1123.
  • Gisela Febel: figure poem . In: Gert Ueding (ed.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric . Darmstadt: WBG 1992ff, Vol. 3 (1996), Col. 282–289 (numerous illustrations).
  • Stephanie Haarländer : Get to know Rabanus Maurus. Mainz 2006. ISBN 3-934450-24-5 . (In it p. 112–129: translation of Rabanus' figure poems 1, 4, 15, 16, 28 as well as p. 102–106 of the dedication poem for Ludwig the Pious)
  • Hans-Jürgen Kotzur (ed.): Rabanus Maurus. In the footsteps of a Carolingian scholar . Mainz 2006. ISBN 3-8053-3613-6 . (In it color photos from the Codex Vat. Reg. Lat. 124 of Rabanus figure poems 1–4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 22–25, 28 as well as the dedication poem for Ludwig the Pious)
  • Seraina Plotke: figure poems . In: The New Pauly . Encyclopedia of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (1998), Col. 516f. [to antiquity].
  • Hellmut Rosenfeld: figure poem . In: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte , Vol. 8, (1985), Sp. 1012-1020.
  • Dieter Schaller and Wolfram Hörandner : Figure poem . In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Vol. (1989), Col. 441-443. [on Middle Ages and Byzantium]
  • Robert G. Warnock et al. Roland Folter: "The German Pattern Poem. A Study in Mannerism of the Seventeenth Century", in: Festschrift Detlev Schumann , Munich 1970, pp. 40–73

Web links

Commons : Calligrams  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Contrary to what the term “technopaignion” suggests, the word is not used in ancient Greek. It appears for the first time as the title of a poem ( technopaegnion or technopaegnium - "art game") in Ausonius . He may have coined the word, even if the connection between “game” and “art” is older.
  2. ↑ The poems compiled here are contained (in Greek) in: ASF Gow (editor): Bucolici Graeci . Oxford 1922 (= Oxford Classical Texts). Page 171 ff.
  3. ↑ For the time being, see the article "Joseph Scottus" on Wikipedia.
  4. ↑ For the time being, see the article "Eugenius Vulgarius" on Wikipedia.
  5. ↑ Lilia Diamantopoulou: Greek Visual Poetry. From antiquity to the present . In: Maria A. Stassinopoulou, Olga Katsiardi-Hering, Andreas E. Müller (Hrsg.): Studies on the history of Southeast Europe . tape 18 . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-631-69583-8 .
  6. ↑ See article Hellmut Rosenfeld: Figurgedicht on the RDK laboratory page .

See also