Poem fractal
0.122 apart. A smaller distance means the lines are built more alike.
This number is read from the build of the lines. The bright edge is that number, carried outward until the pattern repeats.
by Paul Valéry
0.8098 − 0.6856i
Drawing the boundary…
by A. A. Milne
0.9318 − 0.6813i
Drawing the boundary…
Each poem scrolls on its own, so the two texts stay beside each other.
by Paul Valéry
Quelle, et si fine, et si mortelle,
Que soit ta pointe, blonde abeille,
Je n'ai, sur ma tendre corbeille,
Jeté qu'un songe de dentelle.
Pique du sein la gourde belle,
Sur qui l'Amour meurt ou sommeille,
Qu'un peu de moi-même vermeille
Vienne à la chair ronde et rebelle!
J'ai grand besoin d'un prompt tourment:
Un mal vif et bien terminé
Vaut mieux qu'un supplice dormant!
Soit donc mon sens illuminé
Par cette infime alerte d'or
Sans qui l'Amour meurt ou s'endort!
by A. A. Milne
"What have you done with your sheep,
Little Bo-Peep?
What have you done with your sheep,
Bo-Peep?"
"Little Boy Blue, what fun!
I've lost them, every one!"
"Oh, what a thing to have done,
Little Bo-Peep!"
"What have you done with your sheep,
Little Boy Blue?
What have you done with your sheep,
Boy Blue?"
"Little Bo-Peep, my sheep
Went off, when I was asleep."
"I'm sorry about your sheep,
Little Boy Blue."
"What are you going to do,
Little Bo-Peep?
What are you going to do,
Bo-Peep?"
"Little Boy Blue, you'll see
They'll all come home to tea."
"They wouldn't do that for me,
Little Bo-Peep."
"What are you going to do,
Little Boy Blue?
What are you going to do,
Boy Blue?"
"Little Bo-Peep, I'll blow
My horn for an hour or so."
"Isn't that rather slow,
Little Boy Blue?"
"Whom are you going to marry,
Little Bo-Peep?
Whom are you going to marry,
Bo-Peep?"
"Little Boy Blue, Boy Blue,
I'd like to marry you."
"I think I should like it too,
Little Bo-Peep."
"Where are we going to live,
Little Boy Blue?
Where are we going to live,
Boy Blue?"
"Little Bo-Peep, Bo-Peep,
Up in the hills with the sheep."
"And you'll love your little Bo-Peep,
Little Boy Blue?"
"I'll love you for ever and ever,
Little Bo-Peep.
I'll love you for ever and ever,
Bo-Peep."
"Little Boy Blue, my dear,
Keep near, keep very near."
"I shall be always here,
Little Bo-Peep."
A fractal is a shape that keeps its pattern when you look closer. Coastlines, trees, shells, and weather do this. The large form and the small form are the same kind of thing. A poem can be drawn that way. The shape of the whole comes from the shape of the lines.
Primunia is the name for the source of that order: the pattern under the pattern, already there in a tree, a shell, and a verse.
The number under the picture is the poem constant. It is read from the build of the lines: their length, how uneven they are, the size of the stanzas, the share of vowels, and the way the lines end. A new word moves the number when it changes that build. The same poem always gives the same number.
Drawn on its own, that number sits in a quiet part of the plane, and most poems would look like the same soft disk. So the number is carried outward along its own direction until it meets the edge of the Mandelbrot set, where the shape turns sharp. The picture is the Julia set of that meeting place.
Each point on the canvas is folded again and again by one small rule. Points that stay near the rule form the dark interior. Points that rush away become the coloured bands. The hue comes from the poem constant, and the brightest bands turn toward gold. Change the length of a line, the stanza, or the vowel share, and both the number and the picture move.
Branching draws the poem as a tree. Each turn follows a line, and every smaller branch repeats that pattern. A longer line reaches farther. The letters at the start of a line bend the next turn. A higher share of vowels opens the branches wider.
The trunk takes its colour from the poem constant and warms toward gold at the tips. When the poem has more than one stanza, gold forks leave the trunk. Each fork is a stanza beyond the first, up to three. The tree divides where the poem divides. One stanza remains a single trunk.
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