Poem fractal

On a Fly Drinking Out of His Cup

by William Oldys

14 July 1696 to 15 April 1761 (~65)

Browse poets 678
In their words

“We hardly ever find the worth of books till we lose them; and it is then too late to value them.”

A reminder that the value of books is often recognised only after access to them has been lost. · Essay, On the Scarcity of Books

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. Thomas Parnell · 0.3722 − 0.1925i · 0.027 away · Compare side by side
  2. Rose Milligan · 0.4052 − 0.2101i · 0.028 away · Compare side by side
  3. Arthur Symons · 0.3972 − 0.1889i · 0.035 away · Compare side by side
  4. Paul Verlaine · 0.4215 − 0.2012i · 0.046 away · Compare side by side
  5. James Clarence Mangan · 0.3937 − 0.1701i · 0.051 away · Compare side by side
—
—
0:00
0:00
Track 1
Skip to main content