Some characteristics of Dadaism's most profound characteristics include humor, whimsy, artistic freedom, emotional reaction, irrationalism, and spontaneity. Invaluable created a fun, educational infographic that details some of the elements of Dada literature, and it includes writing prompts to help master each.

Dada artists rejected cultural standards and values, and were thus dissatisfied with traditional definitions of what art could be. Duchamp advocated for a philosophy of total freedom in art, and many followed suit. Artists used assemblage, collage, and mass-produced everyday objects to reject cultural standards. Poems were fractured. French poet Stéphane Mallarmé scrambled syntax and scattered words across the page to create poetry. This type of imagistically fractured use of writing is reflected in the later works of T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.