Q U A N T I F Y I N G T H E M I LT O N I C S O N N E T

M I C H A E L U L LY O T : : U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A L G A R Y

O U T L I N E

• What is a Miltonic sonnet?

• form or genre

• The Sonnet Database

• Milton’s word choices

ullyot@ucalgary.ca :: acriticismlab.org

I S T H E S O N N E T A F O R M , O R A G E N R E ?

acriticismlab.org

M I LT O N I C L E M M A S

ullyot@ucalgary.ca :: acriticismlab.org

[('cromwell', 3), ('detractions', 3), ('matchless', 3), ('fortitude', 3), ('darwen', 3), ('scot', 3), ('imbrued', 3), ('dunbar', 3), ('laureate', 3), ('secular', 3), ('hireling', 3), ('maw', 3), ('slaughter', 3), ('alpine', 3), ('redouble', 3), ('triple', 3), ('hundredfold', 3), ('babylonian', 3), ('useless', 3), ('thousands', 3), ('tetrachordon', 2), ('intellect', 2), ('stallreader', 2), ('gordon', 2), ('colkitto', 2), ('macdonnel', 2), ('galasp', 2), ('sleek', 2), ('stare', 2), ('john', 2), ('cheke', 2), ('toad', 2), ('asp', 2), ('cambridge', 2), ('greek', 2), ('worcester', 2), ('espousèd', 2), ('alcestis', 2), ('rescue', 2), ('childbed', 2), ('purification', 2), ('vest', 2), ('cyriack', 2), ('europe', 2), ('piedmontese', 2), ('numb', 1), ('piemontese', 1), ('prelate', 1), ('stiff', 1), ('renounce', 1)]

E X - M I LT O N I C L E M M A S

ullyot@ucalgary.ca :: acriticismlab.org

[('sweet', 342), ('loue', 282), ('mee', 228), ('beauty', 204), ('hart', 198), ('desire', 174), ('fair', 167), ('place', 167), ('say', 165), ('die', 145), ('haue', 139), ('faire', 130), ('pleasure', 126), ('nature', 114), ('butt', 114), ('selfe', 113), ('flame', 104), ('tear', 104), ('pain', 103), ('teare', 103), ('wit', 100), ('shee', 99), ('cause', 97), ('alas', 96), ('forth', 93), ('ill', 93), ('tell', 90), ('nott', 90), ('burn', 89), ('change', 89), ('prove', 88), ('dear', 87), ('soule', 87), ('self', 87), ('glory', 86), ('fall', 83), ('breath', 83), ('fayre', 79), ('wind', 78), ('sigh', 77), ('write', 77), ('wonder', 75), ('griefe', 74), ('neuer', 73), ('yett', 73), ('seek', 70), ('passion', 69), ('turn', 69), ('sorrow', 68), ('vnto', 68)]

M I LT O N V S D O N N E

ullyot@ucalgary.ca :: acriticismlab.org

('serve', 10), ('learn', 8), ('peace', 8), ('grow', 6 ) , ( ' v i c t o r y ' , 5 ) , ('conscience', 5), ('fly', 5), ('bid', 5), ('lead', 5), ('rude', 4), ('guide', 4), ('loud', 4), ('help', 4), ('sow', 4), ('either', 4), ('state', 4), ('liberty', 4), ('close', 3), ('cry', 3), ('spell', 3)

('oh', 22), ('die', 21), ('sleep', 18), ('last', 17), ('burn', 13), ('mourn', 12), ('flesh', 11), ('take', 11), ('hell', 10), ('black', 9), ('weak', 9), ('pain', 9 ) , ( ' d e s p a i r ' , 8 ) , ('drown', 8), ('blow', 8), ('body', 8), ('cannot', 8), ('tear', 8), ('begin', 8)

M I LT O N V S H E R B E R T

ullyot@ucalgary.ca :: acriticismlab.org

('truth', 11), ('war', 9), ('learn', 8), ('faith', 8), ('pure', 8), ('late', 7), ('field', 7), ('save', 6), ('free', 6), ('year', 6), ('victory', 5), ('less', 5), ('saint', 5), ('sight', 5), ('soon', 5), ('mild', 5), ('bid', 5), ('lead', 5), ('writ', 4), ('walk', 4)

('burn', 6), ('since', 6), ('cannot', 6), ('poor', 5), ('turn', 5), ('take', 5), ('beauty', 5), ('seek', 5), ('sound', 5), ('evry', 5), ('wit', 5), ('unto', 4), ('die', 4), ('ink', 4), ('invention', 4), ('low', 4), ('suit', 4), ('birth', 4), ('flame', 4), ('church', 4)

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ullyot@ucalgary.ca