Let’s find the repeated phrases in the works of William Shakespeare.
The text is available here: [The Complete Works of William Shakespeare] (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/100) What’s convenient for us is that all the works are combined into a single text file.
First, let’s look at the longest repeats, it is repeated once.
[Reads] 'When as a lion's whelp shall, to himself unknown,
without seeking find, and be embrac'd by a piece of tender air;
and when from a stately cedar shall be lopp'd branches which,
being dead many years, shall after revive, be jointed to the old stock,
and freshly grow ; then shall Posthumus end his miseries,
Britain be fortunate and flourish in peace and plenty. '
This speaks to the people of Britain. I imagine nationalism was stronger then than nowadays.
Each of the next two passages is repeated three times. They each have a rhyme.
The fox, the ape, and the humble-bee,
Were still at odds, being but three.
ALL. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Today, we have pop songs that give us the rhyme for the day.
This next is repeated 5 times. It must have been fun to hear it in a play with stormy weather:
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
There are 11 patterns that have the phrases “my lord” and “good lord”.
I am going to finish with one more pattern. Oscar Wilde is the heir to William Shakespeare.
All of Oscar’s works are not combined into a single text file. So, in here, let’s look at one of his popular works: [The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People] (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/844)
Repeated once:
Of course not!
What could have put such an idea into your pretty little head?
It has a stern no, and a disarming question with a little compliment. He can smile while slapping you. Charming.