Digital Philology of Dramatic Verse

How do metre and rhythm contribute to the dramatic organisation of Spanish Golden Age theatre? This volume investigates the relationship between polymetric verse and structural articulation in the comedia, arguing that metrical variation functions not merely as ornament but as a formal signal within dramatic progression. Drawing on a large corpus and combining philological analysis with computational modelling, the study develops a layered framework that captures verse form, stress patterns, metrical transitions, and their interaction with speech distribution and scenic configuration. Particular attention is paid to the detection of metrical thresholds and to the methodological conditions under which such thresholds can be interpreted as structurally relevant. By integrating close reading with scalable analysis, the book proposes a transparent and evaluable model for the study of dramatic metrics. It offers a methodological contribution to Golden Age scholarship, metrical studies, and digital philology, and provides researchers with a transferable framework for analysing large polymetric corpora.