Shaping the World. 40 Historical Heroes in Verse.
(Macmillan Children’s Books) Chosen by Liz Brownlee

Shape Poetry? What’s that? Well… it is a poem that is shaped like the thing it describes. It’s a double whammy because as well as the words you READ, you also SEE the words placed around the page to form a picture. That way you get an even better understanding of the poem. The shape adds to the meaning of the poem. Try writing a short poem about, say, a bird or an elephant. Then cut them out and stick them on the page with lots of words in a bulge where the elephant’s large bottom is and two short sharp words for its tusks and so on. Or get hold of Shaping The World, by Liz Brownlee, a wonderful, clever, thoughtful and intriguing collection of 40 shape poems by noted poets on the theme of historical heroes, from Greta Thunberg to Ludwig Van Beethoven to Shakespeare. You’ll soon get the hang of it.
AB