Poem fractal

Testament mój

by Juliusz Słowacki

4 September 1809 to 3 April 1849 (~40)

Browse poets 678
In their words

“I had several events this month that flattered my pride, so I experienced several moments of happiness. Admit that it is a wretched life that finds happiness in such things.”

Original: Miałem w tym miesiącu kilka zdarzeń pochlebiających mojej dumie, więc doznałem kilka chwil szczęścia, wyznajcie, że nędzne to życie, co w tym szczęścia szuka! — He recognises the emptiness of confusing wounded pride with genuine happiness. · Letter to his mother, December 1832 (Polish)

More remarks (29)

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. A. A. Milne · −0.0894 − 0.0286i · 0.014 away · Compare side by side
  2. John Clare · −0.0771 + 0.0024i · 0.020 away · Compare side by side
  3. Nora Hopper Chesson · −0.0739 − 0.0345i · 0.020 away · Compare side by side
  4. Ada Cambridge · −0.0998 − 0.0276i · 0.021 away · Compare side by side
  5. Julia Ward Howe · −0.1031 − 0.0231i · 0.022 away · Compare side by side
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