The English Odyssey: Tracing the Continuum from Shakespearean Poetics to Artificial Intelligence in Literary and Pedagogical Studies

Abstract

This paper examines the evolutionary arc of the English language and its literary traditions, tracing a continuous trajectory from early modern linguistic expansion in William Shakespeare to contemporary applications of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in digital humanities and English Language Teaching (ELT). It investigates how Shakespearean rhetoric codified Early Modern English standardisation and dynamic lexical expansion, before examining how computational humanities, stylometrics, and Large Language Models (LLMs) reframe textual analysis and pedagogy. Synthesising classical literary theory with computational humanities and AI-driven pedagogical frameworks, this study demonstrates that algorithmic tools do not diminish humanistic inquiry; rather, they reconfigure reading, writing, and teaching into collaborative, multi-layered practices. Finally, the paper addresses postcolonial linguistic dynamics and ethical imperatives surrounding authorship, critical digital literacy, and the preservation of qualitative nuance in an increasingly automated academic landscape.