A calligram is a set of words arranged in such a way that it forms a thematically related image. It can be a poem, a phrase, a portion of scripture, or a single word; the visual arrangement can rely on certain use of the typeface, calligraphy or handwriting, for instance along non-parallel and curved text lines, or in shaped paragraphs. The image created by the words illustrates the text by expressing visually what it says, or something closely associated; it can also, on purpose, show something contradictory with the text or otherwise be misleading, or can contribute additional thoughts and meanings to the text.

Writers

Guillaume Apollinaire was a famous calligram writer and author of a book of poems called Calligrammes.

José Juan Tablada wrote a book of Spanish-language calligrams entitled Li-Po y otros poemas^[1].

Gallery

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  Calligram of a tiger in Arabic script
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  Calligram of a snake in Georgian script
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  Calligram about the Eiffel Tower by Guillaume Apollinaire
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  Biggest calligram in the world, part of the permanent exhibition of the Valencian Museum of Ethnology.
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  In 1834 a French court ordered the satiric newspaper Le Charivari to publish on its front page a judgement entered against it for having carried a drawing of King Louis-Philippe in the shape of a pear. The newspaper printed the document as instructed—but in the shape of a pear.