“Dictions” by Two Brothers, Charles and Alfred Tennyson

抄録

This study employs a quantitative method, latent Dirichlet allocation topic model, to examine the distinctive thematic and lexical characteristics of poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and his brother, Charles Tennyson, focusing primarily on Poems by Two Brothers (1827), the first published collection by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It has been said that there is some ambiguity surrounding the poems’ authorship within the collection, originally published without annotations indicating each poem’s author. This research leverages topic model to uncover patterns in the diction and thematic inclinations of the two brothers. The results of the latent Dirichlet allocation analysis indicate that each poet gravitated toward certain specific topics as dominant themes in his works. Topic 17, which is associated with romantic sentiments and primarily physical descriptions of women, is prevalent in the poems written by Charles Tennyson, while Topic 1, which concerns themes of masculinity, enthusiasm, and battle, is prominent in the poems written by Alfred Tennyson. These findings highlight the distinctive differences between the two brothers in word usage. It is noteworthy that this study represents a novel application of topic model in examining characteristic diction of the two poets, offering internal evidence of the distinct word usages within the Tennysons’ collaborative collection. This exploration underscores that topic model is effective in distinguishing thematic tendencies as well as the characteristic diction of the two authors, Alfred and Charles Tennyson.