Linguistic density

Linguistic density is an analytical metric used in sonnet studies to express the grammatical and phonetic quality of a poem in terms of a percentage.

Density is determined by dividing a poem's words per line by its syllables per word, dividing that product by ten, and subtracting that product from one. In other words:


 * 1 - ((WPL/SPW)/10)

The fewer words a sonnet contains, the higher its density will be.

William Shakespeare's sonnet "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?," for example, consists of 114 words in iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's poem thus has an SPW of 1.228 and a WPL of 8.143, giving it a density of 33.69%. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet "How do I love thee?" consists of 126 words, and thus has an SPW of 1.119 and a WPL of 9.000, giving it a density of 19.57%.

Anthony J Fuchs's sonnet "True Self," an example of a maximal sonnet, consists of 140 monosyllabic words in iambic pentameter. Fuchs's poem thus has an SPW of 1.000 and a WPL of 10.000, giving it a density of 0.00%.