More diligence, to seek them, than... to make them: Mapping and Modelling Verse Circulation in the STEMMA Project.

This paper introduces the ERC-funded project “STEMMA: Systems of Transmitting Early Modern Manuscript Verse, 1475–1700,” which offers the first large-scale quantitative analysis of the circulation of early modern English poetry in manuscript between 1475 and 1700. By necessity, scholars have tended to treat manuscripts primarily as case studies.

STEMMA, in contrast, seeks to identify patterns and trends at scale. To that end, the team is currently building a large-scale computational model of manuscript circulation that not only maps the evidence that has survived but also makes statistically informed inferences about what has been lost (or is yet to be recovered). This model will, in turn, prompt a thorough reconsideration of early modern literary culture and the diverse people who participated in it. It will challenge longstanding assumptions about poetry, authorship, media, and the idea of literature itself.

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