3.1343 Shakespeare (132)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 2 May 90 16:59:47 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 1343. Wednesday, 2 May 1990.
(1) Date: Tue, 01 May 90 20:59:36 MDT (12 lines)
From: John Morris <JMORRIS@UALTAVM>
Subject: e-Shakespeare on CBC
(2) Date: Tue, 1 May 90 23:28 EDT (42 lines)
From: HMCOOK@BOE.TOWSON.EDU
Subject: Computerized Analysis of Shakespeare E-texts
(3) Date: Wed, 02 May 90 00:51:20 EDT (77 lines)
From: "Matthew B. Gilmore" <GY945C@GWUVM>
Subject: shakespeare authorship and computerized text analysis
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 01 May 90 20:59:36 MDT
From: John Morris <JMORRIS@UALTAVM>
Subject: e-Shakespeare on CBC
Michael Hart asks about researchers use a large Shakespeare text database
who were mentioned on CBC radio on Shakespeare's birthday. It may have
been Ward Elliott and Rob Valenza of Clermont McKenna College in
California.
They were mentioned in an article in The Observer 22 April 1990. They
claim to have added eight new poems to the Shakespeare corpus. (Belated
thanks to S. Reimer for the article in my mailbox).
John Morris, University of Alberta, JMORRIS@UALTAVM.BITNET
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------48----
Date: Tue, 1 May 90 23:28 EDT
From: HMCOOK@BOE.TOWSON.EDU
Subject: Computerized Analysis of Shakespeare E-texts
In response to Michael S. Hart's question about a researcher doing
computerized analysis of work done by Shakespeare and those thought to
have written some of his works, I recently read two articles in the
Washington Post on the man I presume Michael is asking about--Professor
Ward Elliott of Claremont McKenna College. I've misplaced the first,
which concentrated on Professor Elliott himself, but I have the other:
"Computer Test Authenticates Shakespeare" by Michael Miller of Reuter,
April 21, 1990: C3.
The article begins, "A computer program that was fed more than 3 million
words by William Shakespeare and other Elizabethan authors had shown the
Bard alone wrote his works, a university professor said yesterday. In
addition, the computer may have found eight poems previously not
attributed to Shakespeare that were written by the great playwright and
poet." Elliott claims to have "fed the largest collection of
Elizabethan and Jacobean texts ever put into a computer." Elliott is
quoted as saying, "We've got the King James Bible, every poem written by
Shakespeare and material from 30 or so claimants [to Shakespeare's
works]." Elliott used a program devised by Rob Valenza, which "runs a
battery of eight tests on every word. The main test, known as modal
analysis, or the Valenza test, looks for interrelationships between
words. . . . Those authors who did pass the Valenza test were subjected
to seven more tests looking for word frequency, words used to begin
lines, metrical ways of ending lines, whether the line was punctuated at
the end, relative clauses, compound words, hyphenated compound words,
and frequency of exclamation marks. These were then compared to
Shakespeare's characteristics." Both Louis Marder of Shakespeare
Newsletter and Charlton Ogburn, an Oxfordian, are cited as dismissing
the study. The article concludes by noting that Elliott, who I believe
I recall is a lawyer, nevertheless, "is convinced someone other than
Shakespeare is the true author," citing the elitist argument that no one
from the "rustic backwater" of Stratford could have been sophisticated
and knowledgeable enough to write the plays and poems attributed to him.
Well, Michael, you did ask.
Hardy M. Cook
Bowie State University
HMCOOK@BOE.TOWSON.EDU
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------85----
Date: Wed, 02 May 90 00:51:20 EDT
From: "Matthew B. Gilmore" <GY945C@GWUVM>
Subject: shakespeare authorship and computerized text analysis
Did we discuss this last week?
>From the Washington Times, last week-- April 23 (of course):
"Shakespeare did it, inhuman detective says"
by David Braaten The Washington Times
The Bard would have relished the irony.
After more than three centuries of sniping, suspicion and second-
guessing by overeducated intellectuals who couldn't bear to think the
the most sublime writing in the English language was produced by an
unschooled bumpkin named William Shakespeare, the identity of the sweet
swan of Avon has been confirmed by a machine.
Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare, a computer in (gasp!) Southern
California has concluded. The calculated verdict came after it digested
more than 3 million words by Shakespeare and other claimants to his
works--including Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis
Bacon, the Earl of Oxford and Christopher Marlowe.
Only a handful made the first cut--including Queen Bess, bless her--but
were subsequently eliminated in a second round of computer comparisons.
Further irony: Ward Elliott, the professor who ran the test at
Claremont McKenna College near Los Angeles, was himself a serious
doubter of Shakespeare's authorship. And his electronic research may
actually have increased the recognized Shakespeare oeuvre by eight
previously unattributed poems.
"We are on the verge of a tremendous find; the possibility of confirming
eight new short Shakespeare poems," Mr. Elliott, a good sport, told
Reuters news agency.
He used the King James Bible, every poem written by Shakespeare and
known material from 30 or more writers who have been nominated as
undercover Shakespeares over the centuries.
The computer program, devised by Rob Valenza, professor of computer
sciences at Claremont McKenna, ran eight tests on every word. The main
test, known as modal analysis, looked for inter- relationships between
words.
"Using this test alone, Professor Valenza discovered tremendous
consistency within Shakespeare and tremendous powers of discrimination
between Shakespeare and others," Mr. Elliott said.
The authors who passed the first battery of tests were subjected to
seven more that looked for word frequency, words used to begin lines,
metrical ways of ending lines, whether the line was punctuated at the
end, relative clauses, compound words, hyphenated compound words and
frequency of exclamation marks.
These were then compared to Shakespeare's characteristics.
"Bacon, Oxford and Marlowe come out in Timbuktu on the Valenza test,"
said Mr. Elliott. "We have tested maybe 18 or 20 of the major claimants
and only two of them come anywhere close: Queen Elizabeth and Sir
Walter Raleigh."
But the queen flunked five or six of the secondary tests. And Raleigh
was in the Tower of London working on his History of the World during
Shakespeare's most productive period.
"There's also a non-claimant, Fulke Greville, who came out very close to
Shakespeare on the Valenza test, so we've got to run him through some of
the other tests," Mr. Elliott said.
The most exciting find came when the computer was fed the "The
Passionate Pilgrims," a colllections of 20 poems published in 1599. It
bore the signature W. Shakespeare, but only five of the poems were
attributed to him in the book, and four to other poets.
The 11 others were unascribed and most experts doubted they were
Shakespeare's. The first three confirmed the judgement of the experts,
Mr. Elliott said.
"Then we ran the other eight...and they came out beautifully
Shakespearean, more Shakespearean by the Valenza test than 85 percent of
the Shakespeare that we have. It's a potential Shakespeare find if it's
confirmed by the other tests," he added.
...
Matthew B. Gilmore