Erasure poetry
Encyclopedia
Erasure poetry is a form of found poetry
created by erasing words from an existing text in prose
or verse
and framing the result on the page as a poem. The results can be allowed to stand in situ
or they can be arranged into line
s and/or stanza
s.
Here is a nonce
example using text from the November 2003 version of the English Wikipedia Main Page
:
Several contemporary writer/artists have used this form to good effect. Doris Cross appears to have been among the earliest to utilize this technique, beginning in 1965 with her "Dictionary Columns" book art. d.a. levy also worked in this mode at about the same time. Ronald Johnson
's Radi Os is a long poem deconstructed from the text of Milton's Paradise Lost
. Tom Phillips
' A Humument is a major work of book art and found poetry
deconstructed from a Victorian novel. Similarly, Jesse Glass
' Mans Wows (1981), is a series of poems and performance pieces mined from John George Hohman
's book of charms and healings Pow Wows, or The Long Lost Friend. Jen Bervin's Nets is an erasure of Shakespeare's sonnets. Janet Holmes
's The ms of my kin (2009) erases the poems of Emily Dickinson written in 1861-62, the first few years of the Civil War, to discuss the more contemporary Iraq War.
Found poetry
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines , or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions...
created by erasing words from an existing text in prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
or verse
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and framing the result on the page as a poem. The results can be allowed to stand in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
or they can be arranged into line
Line (poetry)
A line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided, which operates on principles which are distinct from and not necessarily coincident with grammatical structures, such as the sentence or clauses in sentences...
s and/or stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
s.
Here is a nonce
Nonce word
A nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Murray Gell-Mann then adopted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
example using text from the November 2003 version of the English Wikipedia Main Page
Main Page
__NOTOC____NOEDITSECTION__...
:
- complete
- and free
- we started
- and are
- visit
- experiment
- you can
- right now
Several contemporary writer/artists have used this form to good effect. Doris Cross appears to have been among the earliest to utilize this technique, beginning in 1965 with her "Dictionary Columns" book art. d.a. levy also worked in this mode at about the same time. Ronald Johnson
Ronald Johnson (poet)
Ronald Johnson was an American poet. He was born in Ashland, Kansas, graduated from Columbia University and lived in New York in the late fifties, wandered around Appalachia and Britain for a number of years, then settled in San Francisco for the next twenty-five years before returning to Kansas,...
's Radi Os is a long poem deconstructed from the text of Milton's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
. Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips
Thomas Phillips was an English painter.Thomas Phillips or Tom Phillips may also refer to:-Culture:* Sir Thomas Phillipps , British antiquary and book collector...
' A Humument is a major work of book art and found poetry
Found poetry
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines , or by altering the text by additions and/or deletions...
deconstructed from a Victorian novel. Similarly, Jesse Glass
Jesse Glass
-In America:Glass first began to write and publish experimental poetry in c. 1972. Starting in 1976, he edited and published the mimeographed Goethe’s Notes Magazine and Goethe's Press from his family home in Westminster, Maryland...
' Mans Wows (1981), is a series of poems and performance pieces mined from John George Hohman
John George Hohman
John George Hohman , who was active between 1802 and 1846, was a German-American printer, book seller and compiler of collections of herbal remedies, magical healings, and charms...
's book of charms and healings Pow Wows, or The Long Lost Friend. Jen Bervin's Nets is an erasure of Shakespeare's sonnets. Janet Holmes
Janet Holmes
Janet Holmes is an American poet, professor, and the director of Ahsahta Press. She is author of six poetry collections, most recently, The ms of m y kin , and has had her poems published in literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Boulevard,...
's The ms of my kin (2009) erases the poems of Emily Dickinson written in 1861-62, the first few years of the Civil War, to discuss the more contemporary Iraq War.