Shakesearch (Shakespeare Search Engine)

Need to search Shakespeare? You'll have a few different options at http://www.rhymezone.com/shakespeare/. This search engine searches each line of Shakespeare's writing for the keywords you specify.

The search interface looks standard, but you have to be careful how you use it. If you want to search for a phrase ("my kingdom for a") or a word or word fragment (king to find kings, kingdom, king, etc.) use the "Word or Phrase" radio button underneath the search box. To find more than one keyword in a line, use the "Keywords" radio button. That'll automatically apply an "AND" to whatever words you search for. (That option won't search for word fragments, either -- searching for king using the "Keywords" radio button will find king only, and not kingdom, kings, etc.) And to search for words at the beginning of a line, use the "Start A Line" button.

Search results provide a list of the lines with the keyword you specified highlighted in the line. At the end of the line is a link to the source of the line. Click that link and you'll be provided with the scene where the line appears. The line will be highlighted.

If you're more interested in browsing, you may do that also. The front page of the site has a list of the most frequent first words of Shakespeare's lines. Click on one and you'll get a list of the most frequent second words to that first word. Choose one of those and you'll get the most frequent third words, and so on until you get a list of lines and their sources. I'm not sure how useful this is except to hardcore Shakespeare fans, but it's pretty interesting.

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