Shakespeare’s sonnets visualized as signatures based on their letters
Sonnet Signatures visualizes each of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets by charting the letters used within each one. Each line of a sonnet was assigned a point with coordinates on a graph based on the number of letters used excluding punctuation (x axis) and the average value of the letters excluding punctuation (y axis). Average value was calculated using a simple formula (a=1 + b=2 + c=3 + …) then dividing by the number of letters in the line. All the points were then connected with a sweeping exaggerated stroke based on the order of the lines in the sonnet (1 to 2 to 3, etc). The result is a collection of unique shapes resembling signatures. Posters are available for each sonnet and as a composite all on one.
This technique could be applied to any text but works best with shorter snippets like sonnets or other poetry whereas longer text results in illegible scribbles.
Text of the sonnets is based on the original 1609 language and featured on each poster with original formatting. Scans of which can be found on the Internet Archive.
