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Application of textual network analysis for English poetic texts for adults and children
Poetry, and English poetry, in particular, has always attracted the attention of many scholars. Nevertheless, the problem of differentiation between poetry for adults and children and the comparison of corresponding poetic texts appeared only recently. The authors of this article have completed a big study aimed at revealing some differences in structuring nineteenth–twentieth century poetic English texts (with animal theme as a focus) on the basis of textual network analysis. This article represents the part of such a study targeted at explaining the methodology underlying the research conducted and illustrating the practical application of this method in the analysis of poetic texts. Scrutinizing the textual networks of two English poems (one for a younger audience and the other for an older one) given in the article serve the example of the approach chosen. The results of the analysis presented in the paper could be of interest for scholars who study the problem of differentiating between poetry for children and adults, as well as those who investigate different approaches for analyzing poetry and other literary texts in general.