Activity in Czech and Russian Nineteenth-century Sonnets: A Contrastive Study

Abstract

Abstract The article focuses on analysing activity in the selected sonnets of the Czech and Russian nineteenth-century literatures (100 poems per each). Busemann Coefficient (Q) is counted for the samples, and the individual authors are tested on statistical significance by means of the nonparametric Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test. Another product of the research is a scatter plot, where the counts of the significant MWW test values for the poets and their average Q’s are compared; these figures are clustered according to the k-means method, and interpretations are formulated on the basis of the groupings. Both microanalyses penetrating into an author’s production, and literary-movement investigations are provided, so as to make the research of use for literary criticism, too. Finally, two ways of comparing the Czech and Russian data are sketched, with the outcomes being commented upon.