Projects per year
Abstract
In this paper we consider the status of quantitative evidence in literary studies, with an example from our own work using the software package Docuscope to investigate chronological ‘periods’ in Shakespeare’s career. We argue that quantitative evidence has a function in literary studies, not as an end in itself, but as a starting point for traditional interpretative literary analysis. In our example, we show that linguistic analysis suggests three periods in Shakespeare’s career, defining a ‘period’ as a group of plays with similar linguistic features. We focus on the latest period, as this is the largest, and suggest that the ‘late style’ of Shakespeare may begin much earlier than traditionally thought. We analyse the features that the later plays share, and argue that from the late 1590s Shakespeare can be seen to be adopting features which are (a) closer to speech, and (b) indicate a shift from real-world denotation to a focus on communicating the subjectivity of the speaker.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Société Française Shakespeare Actes du Congres 2014 |
Editors | Christophe Hausermann |
Place of Publication | Paris |
Pages | 123-149 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Volume | 31 |
Edition | 2014 |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- shakespeare
- quantitative analysis
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Dive into the research topics of 'Quantification and the language of later Shakespeare'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Edgelands, Flatland: spaces, data, language, and literature
Jonathan Hope (Contributor)
30 Apr 2015Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Shakespeare's Language: a symposium
Jonathan Hope (Contributor)
16 Apr 2015 → 18 Apr 2015Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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2nd Annual Digital Humanities Lecture
Jonathan Hope (Keynote/plenary speaker)
29 Apr 2015Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Key-note speaker and plenary lectures at conferences