Short Description

The WordWeb/IDEM database maps the dense network of quotations, cross-references and in-jokes that link hundreds of English plays from Shakespeare’s time. If a comedy or tragedy was a hit on the Elizabethan stage, names and phrases could go viral, as they were then referenced in various other texts and plays.

The practice of cross-referencing generated a network of Shakespeare-based one-liners. The WordWeb/IDEM database enables the discovery of which phrases early modern dramatists borrowed from each other and other sources. You will find answers to questions such as:

Which one-liners were quoted most frequently?

Which books and authors were most interactive?

How were quoted phrases adapted by writers who recycled them?

Apart from the usual suspects, who else used the phrases “Sea of troubles”, “To be or not to be” or “My kingdom for a horse”?