Poem fractal

To a Sleeping Singer

by J.G. Holland

24 July 1819 to 12 October 1881 (~62)

Browse poets 678
In their words

“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”

Emphasising persistence and steadfast direction · 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. Dylan Thomas · −0.2441 + 0.6687i · 0.025 away · Compare side by side
  2. Edgar Lee Masters · −0.2221 + 0.6867i · 0.027 away · Compare side by side
  3. Charlotte Smith · −0.2481 + 0.6601i · 0.028 away · Compare side by side
  4. Edna St. Vincent Millay · −0.1936 + 0.6430i · 0.032 away · Compare side by side
  5. Amy Levy · −0.1937 + 0.6799i · 0.033 away · Compare side by side
—
—
0:00
0:00
Track 1
Skip to main content