Abstract

SMALLWOOD, Matthew. TALKING LIKE THE RAIN TO THE EMPIRICAL DISCIPLINES. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2010, vol.23, n.1, pp. 129-144. ISSN 0120-338X.

Recent developments in computational power have been applied to Shakespearean studies in such a way as to demonstrate that unprecedented collation and insight into authorial work will occur. This will generate a renewed emphasis on authorial intention and reviewing the canon, two traditions which have been reduced to mere concepts by the regnant schools of reader-response criticism and pure aesthetics. A glance at Stanley Fish's new Milton book and the state of G. M. Hopkins' criticism confirms that the academy is still committed to predominantly deconstruction and discipline segregation for English study. The author uses several various issues arising and several poetical meter studies to sketch a possible means of re-uniting pure English studies and empirical sciences like linguistics in fruitful dialogue.

Keywords : canon; computational linguistics; empiricism; Hayes; Hopkins; idiolect; metrics; Milton; Shakespeare.