Abstract
Since books and computer screens make poetry accessible without memorization – not so in the early days of
verse – rhyme, a memory aid, is no longer necessary. Furthermore, visual accessibility means that word patterns
may rely on the eyes as well as the ears to achieve recognition as poetry. Herein, we examine shaped structures
such as the square stanza, the snowball, and the Fib and consider their adaptability to a variety of poetic
situations. It should be observed that format constraints in poetry – constraints as basic as counting syllables
– may lead a writer to unexpected arrangements of words and a richness of meanings unavailable without them.
The article ends with a nod to the Bridges Archives and its rich selection of articles that feature poetry – and
offers a variety of weblinks for those who wish to explore math-poetry similarities.
