ENGL 102QA: POETRY BY NUMBERS

University of California, Santa Barbara

How have forms and formulas for composing poetry like the sonnet been dicta ted by patterns? How does thinking of a poem as a sequence of words or comb ination of symbols detract from or enhance our understanding? How does an a rtificial intelligence read and replicate writing style without reference t o the outside world? This introductory course offers an entry into reading and understanding poetry in the years 1500-1700 through pattern recognition , quantitative reasoning and natural language processing techniques, and wo uld be equally suited for those interested in reevaluating literature from a new perspective and those seeking to learn to apply digital humanities sk ills, systemic thinking and quantitative methods to literary analysis.