Exploring Affective Language with Electronic Text Analysis Tools

The manuscript poems of Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) supply the materials for a case study in the language of the emotions in the Tudor period of Early Modern English. Courtesan and ambassador for his king at a most critical time in Europe, Thomas Wyatt was also the cultivated and enterprising reader and translator of poetry from the Continent who brought new inspiration and new forms to the English tradition. It is with a special focus on the means of expression of the emotions that this work approaches Wyatt’s compositions and explores a language and a body of poetry that not only set the standards for courtly conventions but is a paragon of dramatic intensity; that can in turn be overtly erotic and perhaps secretly political; and that, in its ultimate elusiveness, has both whetted and defeated the curiosity of Wyatt’s biographers.
Text analysis software has made it possible to create a comprehensive dictionary from individual word occurrences in the poems and generate a map of words that name or relate to the emotions. The use of an electronic text, especially set up for the analysis, has also made it possible to examine the poetry in cross-section, extrapolating patterns of use for the language of the emotions across the manuscript, and leading to a core of four emotion states that are the cornerstones of Wyatt’s dramatic self-representation.

Mattia Bilardello was born in Britain and lives in Rome. Trained at the University of Oxford and at ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, he has a background in Philosophy and Italian studies, and a PhD in English.

Anno: 2016
Pagine: 386
Formato: 17 x 24 cm
Peso Kg: 0.540
Colore: B/N
Copertina: Morbida
Legatura: Brossura
Lingua: Inglese
ISBN cartaceo: 9788868126155
ISBN digitale: 9788868126698