Romantic verse? Revisiting the sapphic decasyllable with digital tools

Abstract

In the field of literary studies, the quanti-qualitative method, known as literary stylometry and textual statistics, has gained prominence. This type of research is characterized by the use of computational tools in the context of digital culture, performing rapid and precise analyses of stylistic elements to identify authors, poets, and literary schools. This study revisits the hypothesis that the Sapphic decasyllable is a distinctive mark of Brazilian Romantic poetry. We use the digital tool Aoidos for automatic verse scansion, obtaining quantitative data on verse length and rhythm. By comparing the use of different types of decasyllable (Sapphic, heroic, and androgynous) across four groups of poets (Neoclassical, Romantic, Generation of 1870, and Parnassian), we observed that, despite an increase of nearly 75% in the use of this verse type from the 18th to the 19th century, it is not an exclusive trait of Romantic poets. This finding allows us to conclude that the perception of excessive Sapphic usage stems from certain specific works rather than a widespread phenomenon. This analysis raises questions about traditional interpretations by critics such as Antonio Candido and Péricles Eugênio da Silva Ramos, who view the Sapphic as a central feature of Romantic poetry. We conclude that the hypothesis of Sapphic verse predominance in Romanticism lacks empirical support, as it traverses various literary movements with relative stability throughout the 19th century.