Rui Torres’ “Amor De Clarice” demonstrates the limitations of printed media while simultaneously illustrating the boundless limits of digital media to recreate text. Excerpts from “Amor De Clarice” are exemplified as the hypotext in this piece of electronic literature. The hypotext is placed on a static background without movement. In contrast, the hypertext (links readers can click on that illustrate different poems), is extremely animated and interactive, exemplifying the seemingly endless possibilities digital media offers. Readers can click on the hypertext, whereas the hypotext remains stagnant. Audience members are shown that digital media can provide rhetoric and meaning of which printed media is incapable; the meaning of the text is strengthened by the digital platform as readers can connect with other perceptions (such as sound, moving pictures for visual illustration, color, etc…) that enhance the text that was once inactive.

Additionally, the hypotext is in the background while the hypertext overshadows the original text, illustrating a temporal representation of printed text as being improved upon by digital media. The hypertext moves back and forth across the page, inviting users to click on different poems. Each line represents a poem that links to a different video; the videos directly correlate to the poem’s message and act as a visual aid in understanding the text. Since individuals learn through sound, sight, and touch, electronic literature affords readers the ability to read, listen to, interact with, and visualize the text. The use of hypertext in this electronic literature illustrates the numerous ways in which digital media can enhance the rhetoric of literature. Readers can even alter the meaning of a poem by dragging lines of the poem into different locations on the screen. Although the poems’ rhetoric was originally evidenced through textual reading, readers can now understand the poem more deeply through the use of video, image, and sound; the videos and images of each poem represent and enhance the meaning while simultaneously creating new meaning.

While the poems are not written in English, the implication of digital media as a beneficial medium for electronic literature is evident. The original text is incomprehensible and concealed by the hypertext; it is laid on a dull background of gray and black, further indicating the limitations of printed media. In contrast, the hypertext allows users to interact with the text, clicking on poems that connect to images and reinforcing the meaning of such poems. The videos and images represented are colorful and active, representing the dynamic effect of literature through a digital platform. “Amor De Clarice” demonstrates the nature of process (as technology is always moving forward and is not static) and interactivity (as readers can click on different lines of text).  The ever-changing hypertext represents the process by which digital media enforces the creation and recreation of a text as the text is always changing to match the current technology.