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<\/a>Wordle Word Cloud for "Song of Myself," section 1<\/p><\/div>\n
(Click on the image if you’d like it larger.) \u00a0An immediate surprise for me: the prominence of the word parents<\/em> in section 1. \u00a0But that shouldn’t have been the case: the word cloud correctly represents that Whitman repeats the word 3 times in a single line\u2014something I’d not really noticed while reading linearly. \u00a0This is one advantage to word clouding, if I may use such a verb: \u00a0it may change our reading ideas of which words are used most frequently. \u00a0Of course, importance and frequency are not necessarily linked, and the most interesting words in a passage may verb probably NOT be the ones used most frequently. \u00a0But my hunch is word clouds can generate some interesting surprises leading to questions for further research on texts.<\/p>\n Here’s some from just my one observation above: \u00a0is the word parent<\/em>\u00a0as prominent in any other sections? \u00a0what different kinds of references to parents and to generations are there in the rest of the poem? \u00a0 Mothers and fathers are often mentioned, I know, but what about grandparents, for instance? \u00a0Does Whitman often use “generations” to mean all kinds of different species, like plants & animals, not just humans? \u00a0Exploring these questions will lead to other good ones too. \u00a0It’s also possible to cut across the grain of the poem, so to speak, and to explore the biographical facts about Whitman’s actual parents and his relations with them\u2014which, to put it mildly, were fraught and complicated\u2014vs. the highly idealized image of the family that he creates in section 1 and indeed throughout “Song of Myself.”<\/p>\n “Word clouding” texts and then comparing and discussing the results–and asking what research hypotheses they might generate–strikes me as an interesting “digital humanities” assignment for undergraduates.<\/p>\n Some current digital humanities courses use word cloud assignments: \u00a0I must explore this further, with particular emphasis not so much on generating the cloud as on what to do with it. \u00a0“What should we do with our results” would also make for a lively class discussion topic, if well guided.<\/p>\n Would be worth exploring too how to adopt this assignment for more unusual Whitman reading\u2014such as using texts now available via the online Walt Whitman Archive.<\/a><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The text of “Song of Myself,” section 1. \u00a0Please excuse the lack of stanza breaks. \u00a0No one obviously told the WordPress programmers that such things might be important. \u00a0I can’t figure out how to put them in. \u00a0 Or rather, I put them in with paragraph returns in the “draft” and then they disappear when this is all uploaded. \u00a0This is typical of the digital world: \u00a0it does some things great and with other important things it is a complete time-sink frustration aggravation. \u00a0I’m sure there’s probably a work-around, but now I have to spend time finding it. \u00a0And all I’m trying to do is add stanza breaks!<\/p>\n Using “Wordle” [available at wordle.net] and pasting in the online text of section 1 of “Song of Myself” (given at the end of this post), here is the “word cloud” that was generated: (Click on the image if you’d like … Continue reading