dataset_info:
features:
- name: text
dtype: string
splits:
- name: train
num_bytes: 4349261.614414368
num_examples: 114704
download_size: 3640301
dataset_size: 4349261.614414368
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/train-*
task_categories:
- text-generation
language:
- en
pretty_name: Shakespeare Lines
size_categories:
- 100K<n<1M
Shakespeare Lines Dataset
The Shakespeare Lines dataset contains cleaned, line-by-line excerpts from the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This dataset is curated for use in training and fine-tuning language models on literary or archaic English. It has been stripped of metadata, scene directions, headers/footers, and other non-dialogue filler commonly found in public domain eBooks.
Dataset Structure
Each example contains:
text: A single line of dialogue from one of Shakespeare’s plays or sonnets.
Example:
{
"text": "To be, or not to be: that is the question."
}
Source
The raw texts were sourced from Project Gutenberg, which provides public domain books. The dataset was manually cleaned to remove:
- Stage directions (e.g., [Enter Romeo], [Exit.])
- Scene headers (ACT I, SCENE II)
- Line numbers and roman numerals
- Table of contents and licensing info
Usage
from datasets import load_dataset
dataset = load_dataset("benchaffe/shakespeare-lines")
print(dataset[0])
Limitations
The dataset does not preserve scene or speaker metadata.
Some filtering may accidentally remove legitimate content (e.g., short lines in all caps).
Lines are context-independent unless reassembled manually.
Source
Project Gutenberg: (https://www.gutenberg.org/)