Poem fractal

On the Righi

by J.G. Holland

24 July 1819 to 12 October 1881 (~62)

Browse poets 678
In their words

“Calmness is the cradle of power.”

Linking composure with inner strength and effective action · Prose writing

More remarks (4)

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. Charles Sorley · −0.3867 − 0.5555i · 0.006 away · Compare side by side
  2. Edward Thomas · −0.3890 − 0.5410i · 0.020 away · Compare side by side
  3. Edna St. Vincent Millay · −0.4036 − 0.5546i · 0.021 away · Compare side by side
  4. Robert Louis Stevenson · −0.3992 − 0.5342i · 0.030 away · Compare side by side
  5. Amy Lowell · −0.4052 − 0.5348i · 0.034 away · Compare side by side
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