Dear @Diego Zviovich and @Vitaliy Kaurov,
I did not have much time yesterday night so I only did some quite basic things. Here are some more ideas. To put everything into an historical context, we might want to look at important events in Shakespeare's life. There is a website (actually there are zillions of them) which has the data in an easy-to-read form:
TimelinePlot[
Association[{#[[2]] -> Interpreter["Date"][#[[1]]]} & /@ (StringSplit[#, " "] & /@
StringSplit[StringSplit[StringSplit[Import["http://www.shmoop.com/william-shakespeare/timeline.html", "Plaintext"], "How It All Went Down"][[2]], "BACK NEXT"][[1]], "\n"][[2 ;; ;; 3]])]]
On the website there are little snippets of text that explain what happened. It is certainly possible to display them using Tooltip in this TimelinePlot. I also wondered where all the plays of Shakespeare were set. Another website contains the information. I use Interpreter to get the GeoCoordinates. It does not always appear to work. Some dots are in Australia and the US; here I restrict the plot to Europe and the Middle East.
places = Import["http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/shakespeares-plays/shakespeares-play-locations/", "Data"][[2 ;;, 1, 1, 1, 2]][[1, All, -1]];
gpscoords = Interpreter["Location"][places];
GeoListPlot[Select[gpscoords, Head[#] === GeoPosition &], GeoRange -> GeoBoundingBox[{GeoPosition[{59.64927428005451, \
-22.259507086895418`}], GeoPosition[{26.793037464663843`, 48.84842129323249}]}], GeoBackground -> "ReliefMap", GeoProjection -> "Mercator", ImageSize -> Large]
Syllables and Meter
Ok. Now the next bits are a bit more complicated. I first wondered how the number of syllables would be per verse in the sonnets. Luckily the Wolfram Language has a function for that. But first I set everything up as above and look at the first sonnet.
shakespeare = Import["http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/100/pg100.txt"];
titles = (StringSplit[#, "\n"] & /@ StringTake[StringSplit[shakespeare, "by William Shakespeare"][[1 ;;]], -45])[[;; -3, -1]];
textssplit = (StringSplit[shakespeare, "by William Shakespeare"][[2 ;; -2]]);
alltexts =
Table[{titles[[i]],
StringDelete[textssplit[[i]],
"<<THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND
IS PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF ILLINOIS BENEDICTINE COLLEGE
WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE
DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS
PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED
COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY
SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.>>"]}, {i, 1, Length[titles]}];
allsonnets = StringSplit[StringSplit[alltexts[[1, 2]], "THE END"][[1]], Reverse@(ToString /@ Range[154])][[2 ;;]];
allsonnets[[1]]
The Wolfram Language has WordData built in so I tried using the option "Hyphenation" to try and count the syllables - here for sonnet number 4.
WordData[ToLowerCase[#], "Hyphenation"] & /@ # & /@ (TextWords[#] & /@DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[4]], "\n"], ","],""][[1 ;; -2]])
The problem is that to many words cannot be hyphenated automatically. It turns out that Wolfram|Alpha does a better job as discussed here. From there I also take the following function "syllables" which submits a query to Wolfram|Alpha:
ClearAll@syllables;
SetAttributes[syllables, Listable];
syllables[word_String] := Length@WolframAlpha["syllables " <> word, {{"Hyphenation:WordData", 1}, "ComputableData"}]
With that function we can analyse the first 10 verses of sonnet number 4:
Monitor[sonnet4 =
Table[{#, syllables[#]} & /@ (TextWords[#] & /@
DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[4]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]])[[k]], {k, 1, Length[DeleteCases[
StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[4]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]]]}], k]
This gives:
TableForm [Reverse /@ # & /@ sonnet4]
where the numbers above the words indicate the estimated number of syllables. Note, that there is sometimes a difference between that number and the perceived number of syllables when you speak. Also, some words were probably pronounced quite differently in Shakespeare's time. Here is the number of syllables per verse:
Total /@ sonnet4[[All, All, 2]]
(*{8, 10, 10, 10, 11, 11, 8, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10}*)
Let's do that for one more sonnet:
Monitor[sonnet5 =
Table[{#, syllables[#]} & /@ (TextWords[#] & /@
DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[5]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]])[[k]], {k, 1,
Length[DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[5]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]]]}], k]
This gives:
TableForm [Reverse /@ # & /@ sonnet5]
There are obviously some problems, such as "o'er-snowed", but over all I am quite impressed with this result. Here is the syllable count per verse:
Total /@ sonnet5[[All, All, 2]]
(*{9, 10, 9, 10, 8, 10, 10, 9, 10, 11, 10, 10, 10, 10}*)
We can now plot and compare the counts for the two sonnets.
ListLinePlot[{Total /@ sonnet4[[All, All, 2]],
Total /@ sonnet5[[All, All, 2]]}, PlotRange -> {All, {0, 12}}, LabelStyle -> Directive[Bold, Medium], AxesLabel -> {"verse #", "syllables"}]
In fact, Shakespeare's sonnets all apart from three, conform to the iambic pentameter, which is described here. On that website they say:
Shakespeare's sonnets are written predominantly in a meter called
iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists
of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called
iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one
unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
That is not exactly what we get, but we are close.
Rhyme and Meter
We can also try to figure out which verse rhymes with which. To do this we take the last word of every verse (first for sonnet 4):
(TextWords[#] & /@ DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[4]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]])[[All, -1]]
this gives
{"spend", "legacy", "lend", "free", "abuse", "give", "use", "live", "alone", "deceive", "gone", "leave", "thee", "be"}
By looking that that list we can immediately see the meter, but it would be nice to get this algorithmically. In fact, Wolfram|Alpha has again all we need.
pronounciation = WolframAlpha["IPA spend", {{"Pronunciation:WordData", 1}, "Plaintext"}]
The IPA gives the phonetical transcription, which is what I want. After a little bit of cleaning this is what I get for the first 10 sonnets:
Monitor[rhymingQ =
Table[(Quiet[(StringSplit[WolframAlpha["IPA " <> #, {{"Pronunciation:WordData", 1}, "Plaintext"}], {"IPA: ", ")"}][[2]])] /. {"IPA: ",")"} -> Missing["NotAvailable"]) & /@ (TextWords[#] & /@
DeleteCases[StringDelete[StringSplit[allsonnets[[l]], "\n"], ","], ""][[1 ;; -2]])[[All, -1]];, {l, 1, 10}], l]
This does not always work, but it is ok:
TableForm[# /. Missing["NotAvailable"] -> "NA" & /@ rhymingQ]
We should be able to work with that. I can now convert the last two symbols to their CharacterCode:
endingsounds = Take[ToCharacterCode[#], -2] & /@ (# /. Missing["NotAvailable"] -> "NA" & /@ rhymingQ)[[1]]
{{78, 65}, {97, 618}, {105, 115}, {605, 105}, {618, 122}, {601, 108}, {618, 122}, {601, 108}, {110, 116}, {78, 65}, {110, 116}, {78,65}, {712, 105}, {78, 65}}
Note that I have converted the Missing bits into "NA". I will want to Ignore the "NA"s. Next, I look for same endings:
Rule @@@ Flatten /@
Select[Position[endingsounds, #] & /@ DeleteDuplicates[Select[endingsounds, # != {78, 65} &]], Length[#] == 2 &]
(*{5 -> 7, 6 -> 8, 9 -> 11}*)
This indicates which verse rhymes with which. I have missed some of them because of the "NA"s, but I hope to make up for that by using several sonnets.
alllinks = {}; Do[endingsounds =
Take[ToCharacterCode[#], -2] & /@ (# /. Missing["NotAvailable"] -> "NA" & /@ rhymingQ)[[i]];
AppendTo[alllinks, Rule @@@ Flatten /@ Select[Position[endingsounds, #] & /@
DeleteDuplicates[Select[endingsounds, # != {78, 65} &]], Length[#] == 2 &]], {i, 1, 10}]; alllinks = Flatten[alllinks]
{5 -> 7, 6 -> 8, 9 -> 11, 9 -> 11, 10 -> 12, 5 -> 7, 11 -> 13, 1 -> 3, 4 -> 14, 5 -> 7, 6 -> 8, 10 -> 12, 1 -> 3, 9 -> 11, 13 -> 14,
2 -> 4, 13 -> 14, 1 -> 3, 5 -> 7, 6 -> 8, 9 -> 11, 10 -> 12, 1 -> 3, 2 -> 4, 5 -> 7, 10 -> 12, 13 -> 14, 1 -> 3, 2 -> 4, 5 -> 7, 10 -> 12,
13 -> 14}
Not elegant at all, and I see @Vitaliy Kaurov 's despair at these lines of code ...
Anyway, it gives a nice graph.
Graph[alllinks, VertexLabels -> "Name", Background -> Black, EdgeStyle -> Yellow, VertexLabelStyle -> Directive[Red, 15]]
This illustrates the structure of the sonnets. If two nodes are usually linked like 1 and 3, 2 and 5, and 13 and 14 they tend to rhyme. Note that occasionally there are additional links like from 11 to 13 and from 4 to 14.
On the website referenced above they also say:
There are fourteen lines in a Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. In
the three quatrains the poet establishes a theme or problem and then
resolves it in the final two lines, called the couplet. The rhyme
scheme of the quatrains is abab cdcd efef. The couplet has the rhyme
scheme gg.
Out network recovers that exact structure. This rhyme structure distinguishes Shakespeare's style from for example Petrarcha's style. I have some interest in Petrarcha's poems so I might post a comparison later.
I also haven't really looked at the meter. I have only tried to count syllables. But the phonetical transcription does contain information about intonation. By combining the two bits of information we might be able to deduce the meter.
Cheers,
M.
