PRONUNCIATION:

(KAL-i-gram) 

MEANING:

noun: A word, phrase, or piece of text arranged to form a picture of the subject described.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French calligramme, from Greek calli- (beautiful) + -gram (something written). Earliest documented use: 1923. A word with the same root is callipygian.

NOTES:

One of the best-known practitioners of the form was the French poet and writer Guillaume Apollinaire, whose work was published in the book Calligrammes.

USAGE:

In his calligram, not only does [Joseph Cornell] mention the names of artists, poets, and musicians alongside the names of scientists and their inventions, he also transforms the building of the laboratory/observatory itself into a sort of puzzle of words.”
 Analisa Pauline Leppanen-Guerra; Children’s Stories and "Child-Time” in the Works of Joseph Cornell and the Transatlantic Avant-Garde; Ashgate Publishing; 2011.