Topics across genres
Shares are of a work's words: chunks are aggregated to editions, editions of one work are averaged, and works enter their genre with equal weight. Every chunk stays in the denominator, so the selected topics never describe a whole genre — the rest of each genre's words is shown alongside. The comparison uses the topics classified as included; the stacked figure below rescales those topics to 100 % of the words they cover (the coverage is printed above each bar), so its percentages are shares of the covered text, not of the genre.
Related analyses: Shakespeare and his contemporaries (author groups against the rest of the same genre) · Chronology (the same measure by estimated first-performance / composition decade).
Coverage
| genre | works | in the comparison | context only | pending (reviewed, undecided) | unassigned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| comedy | 151 | 34 % | 2 % | 3 % | 61 % |
| tragedy | 111 | 42 % | 0 % | 1 % | 57 % |
| history | 34 | 38 % | 2 % | 2 % | 58 % |
| tragicomedy | 29 | 35 % | 0 % | 1 % | 64 % |
| moral | 28 | 43 % | 0 % | 4 % | 52 % |
| romance | 18 | 25 % | 1 % | 4 % | 71 % |
| pastoral | 15 | 47 % | 0 % | 1 % | 52 % |
| masque | 38 | 40 % | 0 % | 3 % | 57 % |
| interlude | 1 | 65 % | 0 % | 0 % | 35 % |
| other/multi | 91 | 21 % | 0 % | 11 % | 68 % |
"In the comparison" = the 53 topics of the categories included; every row sums to 100 % of the genre's words (works equal-weighted).
How works were placed in a genre
Rule: the British Drama label (Wiggins & Richardson, via DEEP) is used when it is a single main genre (390 works); when it is compound or missing, the Annals of English Drama label (Harbage, Schoenbaum & Wagonheim, via DEEP) is used when it is a single main genre (35 works; "Morality" read as moral); otherwise the work stays outside the single-genre comparison (91 works). Both raw labels and the source used are kept for every work (genre_assignment.csv) and shown on its play page.
Works placed by the Annals label (35)
| work | year | British Drama | Annals | placed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aristippus, or The Jovial Philosopher | 1630 | entertainment; academic entertainment | comedy | comedy |
| Cynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love | 1616 | satire | comedy | comedy |
| The Antipodes | 1640 | not in BritDrama | comedy | comedy |
| The Constant Maid (Love Will Find Out the Way) | 1640 | not in BritDrama | comedy | comedy |
| The Lady's Trial | 1639 | not in BritDrama | comedy | comedy |
| The Maid's Metamorphosis | 1600 | pastoral; romance | comedy | comedy |
| The Royal Master | 1638 | not in BritDrama | comedy | comedy |
| Wit in a Constable | 1640 | not in BritDrama | comedy | comedy |
| Mortimer His Fall | 1640 | not in BritDrama | history | history |
| Richard the Second | 1597 | tragedy; history | history | history |
| Richard the Third | 1623 | tragedy; history | history | history |
| The Love of King David and Fair Bathsheba | 1599 | biblical play; history | history | history |
| The True Tragedy of Richard the Third | 1594 | tragedy; history | history | history |
| Robin Hood (Robin Hood and the Friar) (Robin Hood and the Potter | 1590 | romance; folk romance | interlude | interlude |
| Britannia Triumphans (Britain Triumphing) | 1637 | not in BritDrama | masque | masque |
| Luminalia, or The Festival of Light | 1637 | not in BritDrama | masque | masque |
| Pan's Anniversary, or The Shepherds' Holiday | 1641 | pastoral; masque | masque | masque |
| Salmacida Spolia | 1639 | not in BritDrama | masque | masque |
| A Looking Glass for London and England | 1594 | biblical play; moral | morality | moral |
| Lingua, or The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Supe | 1607 | comedy; allegory | morality | moral |
| The Summoning of Everyman | 1534 | not in BritDrama | morality | moral |
| Hymen's Triumph | 1615 | pastoral; tragicomedy | pastoral | pastoral |
| Love's Metamorphosis | 1601 | pastoral; comedy | pastoral | pastoral |
| The Faithful Shepherdess | 1610 | pastoral; tragicomedy | pastoral | pastoral |
| The Spanish Bawd (Calisto and Meliboea) (Celestina) | 1631 | tragicomedy; literary play | romance | romance |
| Abraham's Sacrifice | 1577 | biblical play | tragedy | tragedy |
| Hercules Furens (Mad Hercules) (Seneca's First Tragedy) | 1561 | tragedy; literary play | tragedy | tragedy |
| Imperiale | 1639 | not in BritDrama | tragedy | tragedy |
| Sicily and Naples, or The Fatal Union | 1640 | not in BritDrama | tragedy | tragedy |
| The Phoenix in Her Flames | 1639 | not in BritDrama | tragedy | tragedy |
| 1 The Cid (The Valiant Cid) | 1637 | not in BritDrama | tragicomedy | tragicomedy |
| 2 The Cid | 1640 | not in BritDrama | tragicomedy | tragicomedy |
| The Arcadia | 1640 | pastoral; romance | tragicomedy | tragicomedy |
| The Ladies' Privilege (The Lady's Privilege) | 1640 | not in BritDrama | tragicomedy | tragicomedy |
| The Lost Lady | 1638 | not in BritDrama | tragicomedy | tragicomedy |
Works outside the single-genre comparison (91 works)
Kept in the corpus and on every other page, but not placed in one genre: neither British Drama nor Annals gives them a single main genre. Described here, not tested.
| British Drama label | works | editions | Annals label(s) | examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| civic play; pageant | 26 | 26 | civic pageant ×25; entertainment ×1 | The Pageant before Woolstone Dixie (1585); The Pageant for John Allot (1590); Descensus Astraeae (The Descent of Astraea) (1591) |
| not in BritDrama | 19 | 19 | morality;interlude ×4; (none) ×3; civic pageant ×3 | The Nature of the Four Elements (Natura Naturata) (1520); 1 Gentleness and Nobility (1525); 2 Gentleness and Nobility (1525) |
| entertainment; royal entertainment or entry | 17 | 17 | entertainment ×17 | The Entertainment at Norwich (Royal Entry of Queen Elizabeth (1578); The Entertainment in Suffolk and Norfolk (Royal Entry of Que (1578); The Queen's Entertainment at Woodstock (1585) |
| entertainment; civic play | 8 | 8 | civic pageant ×8 | The Entertainment at Bunhill on the Shooting Day (The Archer (1621); The Entertainment at Sir Francis Jones's Welcome (Comus the (1621); The Entertainment at Sir Francis Jones's at Easter (The Four (1621) |
| classical legend or myth | 4 | 4 | dialogue ×2; classical legend ×2 | The Golden Age, or The Lives of Jupiter and Saturn (1611); The Brazen Age (The Age of Brass) (1613); Apollo and Daphne (1637) |
| entertainment; academic entertainment | 3 | 3 | comedy;dialogue ×2; monologue ×1 | A Merry Dialogue between Band, Cuff, and Ruff (1615); Work for Cutlers (Sword, Rapier, and Dagger) (1615); The Conceited Pedlar (The University Pedlar) (1630) |
| biblical play | 3 | 3 | mystery ×2; interlude;biblical play ×1 | The Chief Promises of God unto Man (God's Promises) (1547); The Temptation of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by Sat (1547); Jacob and Esau (1568) |
| pastoral; masque | 1 | 1 | masque;morality ×1 | Comus (The Masque at Ludlow Castle) (1637) |
| history; satire | 1 | 1 | history;pseudo-history ×1 | Nobody and Somebody (1606) |
| entertainment; tournament | 1 | 1 | entertainment ×1 | Prince Henry's Barriers (The Lady of the Lake) (Merlin and (1616) |
| tilt | 1 | 1 | entertainment;tilt ×1 | The Entertainment of the French Ambassadors (The Fortress of (1581) |
| history; pseudo-history | 1 | 1 | history;pseudo-history ×1 | The Hector of Germany, or The Palsgrave, Prime Elector (1615) |
| pageant; civic play; entertainment; royal entertainment or entry | 1 | 1 | entertainment ×1 | The Magnificent Entertainment Given to King James (The Royal (1604) |
| entertainment | 1 | 1 | entertainment ×1 | The Masque of Owls (1641) |
| entertainment; masque; royal entertainment or entry | 1 | 1 | entertainment ×1 | The Royal Entertainment at Caversham (1613) |
| history; allegory | 1 | 1 | history;allegory ×1 | The Whore of Babylon (1607) |
| satire; dialogue | 1 | 1 | comedy;dialogue ×1 | Two Wise Men and All the Rest Fools (1619) |
| dialogue | 1 | 1 | entertainment ×1 | Wine, Beer, and Ale Together by the Ears (Wine, Beer, Ale, a (1629) |
Top 20 selected topics per genre; shares rescaled so that all selected topics together are 100 % of the words they cover (coverage above each bar; topics outside the top 20 pooled as "other selected topics")
Shown fitted to the screen — click to enlarge and zoom.
The same topics per genre as bars; values are the mean share of a work's words
Shown fitted to the screen — click to enlarge and zoom.
Per-genre bar charts: comedy · history · masque · moral · pastoral · romance · tragedy · tragicomedy
Mean share of a work's words (square-root colour scale)
Share of works in which the topic occurs
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Kruskal–Wallis across genres (Benjamini–Hochberg q)
"one-work" = a single work holds ≥50 % of the highest genre's total share, so that mean is one play, not the genre. Descriptive only.
| topic | highest genre (mean; works with topic) | one-work | second | ratio | p | q |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 Death, grief and revenge | tragicomedy (7.95 %; 21/29) | tragedy (6.73 %) | 1.18 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T2 Roman politics: senate, consuls and civil wa | tragedy (6.39 %; 27/111) | romance (0.81 %) | 7.89 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T4 Love-longing and the lover's complaint | pastoral (12.37 %; 14/15) | masque (2.25 %) | 5.51 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T5 Christian faith, sin and salvation | moral (15.55 %; 13/28) | history (2.13 %) | 7.31 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T10 England and France: war, embassy and peace | history (6.51 %; 12/34) | romance (1.14 %) | 5.71 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T12 Olympian gods: Jupiter, Juno, Venus and Mars | masque (18.81 %; 15/38) | pastoral (2.53 %) | 7.43 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T16 Gallantry: ladies, lordships and compliment | comedy (1.38 %; 40/151) | moral (0.71 %) | 1.94 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T18 Rebels, barons and the king's wars at home | history (7.20 %; 14/34) | romance (0.98 %) | 7.32 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T21 Cupid, Venus and the nymphs | pastoral (9.40 %; 8/15) | masque (2.92 %) | 3.22 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T22 Shepherds, flocks and Pan | pastoral (7.71 %; 7/15) | YES | masque (2.63 %) | 2.93 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 |
| T25 Kings, power and law: political sententiae | tragedy (1.50 %; 20/111) | tragicomedy (0.25 %) | 6.07 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T27 Uncles, nephews and cousins: kinship and pat | comedy (1.23 %; 37/151) | tragedy (0.16 %) | 7.84 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T31 Popes, cardinals and the crown | history (3.33 %; 7/34) | moral (0.56 %) | 6.0 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T36 Hell, Furies and the language of punishment | tragedy (1.29 %; 21/111) | pastoral (0.26 %) | 4.94 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T37 Riches, poverty and covetousness | moral (6.46 %; 9/28) | romance (0.20 %) | 32.42 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T38 Death, parting and grief at court | history (1.54 %; 12/34) | romance (0.55 %) | 2.79 | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | |
| T43 York and Lancaster: dynastic claims and conf | history (3.07 %; 12/34) | comedy (0.00 %) | <1e-5 | <1e-5 | ||
| T0 Court life: dukes, favour and honour | tragicomedy (6.17 %; 13/29) | comedy (4.70 %) | 1.31 | <1e-5 | 2e-05 | |
| T6 Money, debt and credit | moral (2.11 %; 7/28) | comedy (1.81 %) | 1.17 | 1e-05 | 3e-05 | |
| T9 Theatre talk: prologues, poets and players | comedy (1.29 %; 42/151) | moral (1.11 %) | 1.16 | 2e-05 | 5e-05 | |
| T11 Siblings, kin and confidants | tragicomedy (1.66 %; 10/29) | comedy (1.21 %) | 1.37 | 2e-05 | 5e-05 | |
| T14 Royal love, favour and dynastic relationship | tragicomedy (3.04 %; 10/29) | romance (1.84 %) | 1.65 | 2e-05 | 5e-05 | |
| T28 Marriage-making: weddings, brides and matche | comedy (1.06 %; 33/151) | moral (0.83 %) | 1.29 | 5e-05 | 0.00012 | |
| T33 Fathers, daughters and marriage negotiations | comedy (0.92 %; 29/151) | moral (0.40 %) | 2.31 | 9e-05 | 0.00019 | |
| T17 Eastern conquest: Persians, Turks and soldan | tragedy (2.40 %; 12/111) | romance (2.27 %) | 1.06 | 0.00011 | 0.00023 | |
| T35 Fools, wit and railing | comedy (0.70 %; 29/151) | moral (0.48 %) | 1.47 | 0.00022 | 0.00045 | |
| T49 Wooing a mistress: suitors, go-betweens and | comedy (0.56 %; 23/151) | tragicomedy (0.25 %) | 2.21 | 0.00023 | 0.00045 | |
| T60 Imperial Rome: rulers, favour and political | tragedy (0.57 %; 10/111) | romance (0.46 %) | 1.25 | 0.00061 | 0.00115 | |
| T34 Thebes and royal catastrophe: siege, slaught | tragedy (1.32 %; 12/111) | tragicomedy (0.14 %) | 9.73 | 0.00069 | 0.00126 | |
| T39 Profit, conscience and dishonest dealing | moral (4.09 %; 5/28) | masque (0.29 %) | 13.95 | 0.00087 | 0.00154 | |
| T50 Fleets, armies and generals: war by sea and | tragicomedy (1.32 %; 6/29) | YES | romance (0.41 %) | 3.21 | 0.00129 | 0.00221 |
| T46 Swords, quarrels and valour | tragicomedy (0.74 %; 6/29) | comedy (0.37 %) | 2.03 | 0.00196 | 0.00325 | |
| T8 Captains, gallants and cheats | comedy (1.72 %; 27/151) | romance (1.05 %) | 1.65 | 0.0022 | 0.00353 | |
| T47 Knaves, thieves and bawds | moral (2.69 %; 7/28) | comedy (0.39 %) | 6.87 | 0.00258 | 0.00402 | |
| T3 Sickness, physic and doctors | pastoral (4.41 %; 6/15) | YES | comedy (2.45 %) | 1.8 | 0.00687 | 0.01041 |
| T23 Husbands, wives and jealousy | comedy (0.95 %; 28/151) | tragedy (0.50 %) | 1.93 | 0.00746 | 0.01069 | |
| T62 The courtier as a type: fashion, affectation | tragicomedy (0.86 %; 5/29) | comedy (0.24 %) | 3.62 | 0.00734 | 0.01069 | |
| T59 Spanish courts: war, honour and courtship | tragedy (1.10 %; 8/111) | YES | tragicomedy (0.54 %) | 2.05 | 0.01018 | 0.0142 |
| T45 Widows, wooing and remarriage | comedy (0.80 %; 14/151) | history (0.12 %) | 6.41 | 0.02509 | 0.03409 | |
| T32 Rings and jewels as tokens | tragicomedy (0.93 %; 2/29) | YES | comedy (0.57 %) | 1.65 | 0.02785 | 0.0369 |
| T44 Drinking: wine, ale and taverns | comedy (0.61 %; 23/151) | romance (0.51 %) | 1.19 | 0.02949 | 0.03813 | |
| T40 Sin, guilt and violent loss within families | tragedy (0.70 %; 18/111) | tragicomedy (0.49 %) | 1.44 | 0.03195 | 0.04032 | |
| T7 The Trojan war: conflict and its aftermath | tragedy (2.65 %; 14/111) | pastoral (0.91 %) | 2.92 | 0.03851 | 0.04747 | |
| T54 Antony and Cleopatra: love, death and mourni | tragedy (0.92 %; 8/111) | comedy (0.07 %) | 13.4 | 0.05291 | 0.06373 | |
| T26 Devils, hell and fiends | masque (1.21 %; 2/38) | YES | moral (1.11 %) | 1.09 | 0.06839 | 0.08055 |
| T56 Magic, spells and conjuring | masque (1.70 %; 2/38) | YES | pastoral (0.82 %) | 2.08 | 0.07453 | 0.08587 |
| T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue | tragedy (1.29 %; 6/111) | YES | masque (1.13 %) | 1.15 | 0.0884 | 0.09969 |
| T30 Constables, justices and the watch | comedy (0.86 %; 14/151) | YES | romance (0.49 %) | 1.76 | 0.12116 | 0.13378 |
| T24 Apollo, Phoebus and the Muses | masque (3.38 %; 4/38) | comedy (0.96 %) | 3.52 | 0.16508 | 0.17855 | |
| T15 Friars and holy orders in plot | history (1.57 %; 4/34) | YES | tragicomedy (1.03 %) | 1.53 | 0.25898 | 0.27452 |
| T51 Parents and children: blessing, birthright a | moral (1.05 %; 3/28) | YES | tragicomedy (0.26 %) | 4.1 | 0.3935 | 0.40893 |
| T52 Prodigals, portions and poor kin | masque (0.53 %; 1/38) | YES | comedy (0.42 %) | 1.27 | 0.5369 | 0.54723 |
| T55 Fairies, fairy queens and enchanted desire | pastoral (1.27 %; 1/15) | YES | history (0.19 %) | 6.73 | 0.56253 | 0.56253 |
Dominant-work check
Topics in the comparison in which one work holds ≥ 33 % of the topic's words, aggregated again without that work. This records whether the highest-mean genre changes when the dominant work is omitted from the aggregation. An unchanged ranking does not imply a small effect: compare the absolute means, their change and the works still supporting the topic. The clustering itself is held fixed; the threshold is an operational rule, not a statistical criterion, and it does not cover several works of one author or one story that together dominate a topic. p = Kruskal–Wallis across all tested genres, exploratory — not a test of first against second.
| topic | dominant work (genre; share of topic) | its genre: mean with → without (works with topic / works) | highest genre: with → without | original highest genre's mean: with → without | p: with → without |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T20 Hercules: labours, suffering and virtue | Hercules Oetaeus (Hercules on Mount Oeta) (Senec (tragedy; 39 %) | 1.29 % → 0.61 % (6/111 → 5/110) | tragedy → masque | 1.29 % → 0.61 % | 0.0884 → 0.08399 |
| T24 Apollo, Phoebus and the Muses | Apollo Shroving (comedy; 35 %) | 0.96 % → 0.55 % (12/151 → 11/150) | masque → masque | 3.38 % → 3.38 % | 0.16508 → 0.16371 |
| T25 Kings, power and law: political sententi | Mustapha (tragedy; 36 %) | 1.50 % → 0.95 % (20/111 → 19/110) | tragedy → tragedy | 1.50 % → 0.95 % | <1e-5 → <1e-5 |
| T30 Constables, justices and the watch | A Tale of a Tub (comedy; 44 %) | 0.86 % → 0.43 % (14/151 → 13/150) | comedy → romance | 0.86 % → 0.43 % | 0.12116 → 0.17706 |
| T39 Profit, conscience and dishonest dealing | The Three Ladies of London (moral; 38 %) | 4.09 % → 2.21 % (5/28 → 4/27) | moral → moral | 4.09 % → 2.21 % | 0.00087 → 0.01397 |
| T54 Antony and Cleopatra: love, death and mo | Antonius (Antony) (tragedy; 36 %) | 0.92 % → 0.55 % (8/111 → 7/110) | tragedy → tragedy | 0.92 % → 0.55 % | 0.05291 → 0.11317 |
| T55 Fairies, fairy queens and enchanted desi | The Whore of Babylon (other/multi; 43 %) | — | pastoral — not applicable: the dominant work is outside the tested genres, so omitting it changes nothing here | — | — |
| T59 Spanish courts: war, honour and courtshi | 1 Jeronimo, with the Wars of Portugal (tragedy; 39 %) | 1.10 % → 0.40 % (8/111 → 7/110) | tragedy → tragicomedy | 1.10 % → 0.40 % | 0.01018 → 0.01592 |