features which influence the reading of poems, such as layout, illustration, anthologization and paratext, are analysed. The development of these features reflects a gradual change in the ways in which
literary self-consciousness is manifested. In earlier texts, produced within an essentially manuscript culture, poets' creative investment in their work is exhibited primarily as formal virtuosity. As printing becomes dominant, such virtuosity tends to be rejected in favour of self-commentary and an apparently more personal discourse.
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