A headpiece is an ornament, rule, illustration, or typographic device printed at the beginning of a chapter, section, or page. It may be purely decorative or may establish a visual motif connected to the book's subject and design. In poetry, a headpiece can announce a new sequence, season, speaker, or formal movement without requiring explanatory prose. Its placement should complement the poem's opening rather than crowd the title or weaken the expressive force of white space.

A "headpiece" is an ornamental engraving or typographic design placed at the head of a page, chapter, or major section of a book. Common in 17th- through 19th-century poetry printing, headpieces often contained thematic allegories, floral patterns (vignettes), or mythological motifs that subtly foreshadowed the themes of the upcoming poem. When studying historic editions of poets like Edmund Spenser or John Milton, analyzing the visual iconography of headpieces offers students a multi-disciplinary entry point into how literature and visual art collaborated in early print culture. Related terms include vignette, tailpiece, drop cap, and fleuron.