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Shakespeare and other English Renaissance authors as characterized by Information Theory complexity quantifiers

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  • Rosso, Osvaldo A.
  • Craig, Hugh
  • Moscato, Pablo

Abstract

We introduce novel Information Theory quantifiers in a computational linguistic study that involves a large corpus of English Renaissance literature. The 185 texts studied (136 plays and 49 poems in total), with first editions that range from 1580 to 1640, form a representative set of its period. Our data set includes 30 texts unquestionably attributed to Shakespeare; in addition we also included A Lover’s Complaint, a poem which generally appears in Shakespeare collected editions but whose authorship is currently in dispute. Our statistical complexity quantifiers combine the power of Jensen–Shannon’s divergence with the entropy variations as computed from a probability distribution function of the observed word use frequencies. Our results show, among other things, that for a given entropy poems display higher complexity than plays, that Shakespeare’s work falls into two distinct clusters in entropy, and that his work is remarkable for its homogeneity and for its closeness to overall means.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Craig, Hugh & Moscato, Pablo, 2009. "Shakespeare and other English Renaissance authors as characterized by Information Theory complexity quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(6), pages 916-926.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:6:p:916-926
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.11.018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Zunino, L. & Pérez, D.G. & Kowalski, A. & Martín, M.T. & Garavaglia, M. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2008. "Fractional Brownian motion, fractional Gaussian noise, and Tsallis permutation entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(24), pages 6057-6068.
    2. Zhou, Hongding & Slater, Gary W., 2003. "A metric to search for relevant words," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 329(1), pages 309-327.
    3. Marcelo A. Montemurro & Damián H. Zanette, 2002. "Entropic Analysis Of The Role Of Words In Literary Texts," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 7-17.
    4. Martin, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2006. "Generalized statistical complexity measures: Geometrical and analytical properties," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 369(2), pages 439-462.
    5. Korol, A.M. & Rasia, R.J. & Rosso, O.A., 2007. "Alterations of thalassemic erythrocytes detected by wavelet entropy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 375(1), pages 257-264.
    6. Antiqueira, L. & Nunes, M.G.V. & Oliveira Jr., O.N. & F. Costa, L. da, 2007. "Strong correlations between text quality and complex networks features," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 373(C), pages 811-820.
    7. Lamberti, P.W & Martin, M.T & Plastino, A & Rosso, O.A, 2004. "Intensive entropic non-triviality measure," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 334(1), pages 119-131.
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    1. Zunino, Luciano & Ribeiro, Haroldo V., 2016. "Discriminating image textures with the multiscale two-dimensional complexity-entropy causality plane," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 679-688.
    2. Rosso, Osvaldo A. & Carpi, Laura C. & Saco, Patricia M. & Gómez Ravetti, Martín & Plastino, Angelo & Larrondo, Hilda A., 2012. "Causality and the entropy–complexity plane: Robustness and missing ordinal patterns," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(1), pages 42-55.
    3. Aurelio F. Bariviera & Luciano Zunino & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "Efficiency and credit ratings: a permutation-information-theory analysis," Papers 1509.01839, arXiv.org.
    4. Zunino, Luciano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Serinaldi, Francesco & Zanin, Massimiliano & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2011. "Commodity predictability analysis with a permutation information theory approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(5), pages 876-890.
    5. Ribeiro, E.M.S. & Prataviera, G.A., 2014. "Information theoretic approach for accounting classification," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 416(C), pages 651-660.
    6. Kowalski, A.M. & Martín, M.T. & Plastino, A. & Rosso, O.A., 2011. "Fisher information description of the classical–quantal transition," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(12), pages 2435-2441.
    7. De Micco, Luciana & Fernández, Juana Graciela & Larrondo, Hilda A. & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Sampling period, statistical complexity, and chaotic attractors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2564-2575.
    8. Mateos, Diego M. & Zozor, Steeve & Olivares, Felipe, 2020. "Contrasting stochasticity with chaos in a permutation Lempel–Ziv complexity — Shannon entropy plane," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 554(C).
    9. Zunino, Luciano & Zanin, Massimiliano & Tabak, Benjamin M. & Pérez, Darío G. & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2010. "Complexity-entropy causality plane: A useful approach to quantify the stock market inefficiency," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(9), pages 1891-1901.
    10. Olivares, Felipe & Plastino, Angelo & Rosso, Osvaldo A., 2012. "Ambiguities in Bandt–Pompe’s methodology for local entropic quantifiers," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(8), pages 2518-2526.
    11. Aurelio F. Bariviera & M. Belen Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Osvaldo A. Rosso, 2015. "A permutation Information Theory tour through different interest rate maturities: the Libor case," Papers 1509.00217, arXiv.org.
    12. Ausloos, M., 2012. "Measuring complexity with multifractals in texts. Translation effects," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 45(11), pages 1349-1357.

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