Easter Wings

Pattern poetry, also called “shaped poetry” and more recently “concrete poetry,” refers to a type of poem whose appearance on the printed page resembles the subject of the poem. Thus, “Easter Wings” is presented in the shape of wings. In the early editions of the poem, the lines were printed vertically rather than horizontally to make the poem look even more like wings. The reader had to turn the book sideways in order to read the poem. Pattern poems go back to ancient Greece, and they were popular during the Renaissance and the 17th century.

The poem is in two rhymed stanzas of 10 lines each. The rhyme scheme for each stanza is a b a b a c d c d c. This means that Line 1 rhymes with Lines 3 and 5, and Line 2 rhymes with Line 4. The pattern recurs in the second half of the stanza, with Line 6 rhyming with Lines 8 and 10, and Line 7 rhyming with Line 9.

The lines are of uneven length because the poet shapes them on the page to represent the shape of wings. The form of the poem as the reader sees it therefore conveys the central image of flying or ascending like a lark.