A Comparative Study of Concrete Visual Poetry: The Case of 'Chhabi te Kabita' by Karunakar Pradhan
Abstract: This paper presents a comparative analysis of concrete visual poetry as exemplified in Karunakar Pradhan's Bengali collection 'Chhabi te Kabita' (2026). Comprising over 130 shape poems, the collection arranges Bengali script into iconic visual forms to engage with contemporary social, ecological, and philosophical themes. The study situates this body of work within two lineages: the classical Sanskrit tradition of Chitrakavya and the international concrete poetry movement that emerged in the 1950s with groups such as Noigandres in Brazil and the European avant-garde. While classical Chitrakavya prioritized metrical virtuosity and devotional geometry, and Western concrete poetry emphasized minimalist reduction and verbivocovisual materiality, Pradhan's approach retains lyrical narrative depth while employing organic typographic freedom. Through close reading of selected pieces such as 'Dinosaur o Manush', 'Marubhumir Jahaj', and 'Bok Tapaswi', the paper argues that this corpus represents a sustained and culturally distinctive contribution to world visual literature, bridging traditional Bengali lyricism with spatial typography.
Keywords: Concrete poetry, Visual poetry, Chhabi te Kabita, Bengali literature, Chitrakavya, Experimental poetry
How to Cite?: Karunakar Pradhan, "A Comparative Study of Concrete Visual Poetry: The Case of 'Chhabi te Kabita' by Karunakar Pradhan", Volume 15 Issue 10, October 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 273-274, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR261003200624, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR261003200624