Poem fractal

Canzoniere 11

by Francesco Petrarca

1304 to 19 July 1374 (~70)

Browse poets 678
In their words

“Man has no greater enemy than himself.”

Original: Nullum homini maius hostem quam se ipsum. — A moral commonplace of his dialogues on fortune: we thwart our own intentions. · De remediis utriusque fortunae, Book II (Latin)

More remarks (19)

Drawing the boundary…

Read the poem Another poem

A fractal is a shape that keeps its pattern when you look closer. Coastlines, trees, shells, and weather do this. A poem can be drawn the same way.

The poem’s constant is read from the build of its lines: their length, the size of the stanzas, and the share of vowels. Poems whose constants lie closer together are built more alike. The same poem always draws the same picture. Change the length of a line, the stanza, or the vowel share, and both the number and the picture move.

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.

Poems nearby in the constant

A smaller distance means the lines are built more alike.

  1. Anthony Munday · 0.8664 − 0.3892i · 0.025 away · Compare side by side
  2. Robert Burns · 0.8779 − 0.4022i · 0.036 away · Compare side by side
  3. S.E.K. Mqhayi · 0.8950 − 0.4155i · 0.052 away · Compare side by side
  4. Edgar A. Guest · 0.8152 − 0.3893i · 0.067 away · Compare side by side
  5. Paul Éluard · 0.8882 − 0.2941i · 0.073 away · Compare side by side
—
—
0:00
0:00
Track 1
Skip to main content