William Shakespeare:

The following example is a fragment (the front matter, and scene 2 of the second act) of William Shakespeare’s , encoded and made available by the Perseus Digital Library.

The text of the play is preceded by front matter, consisting of a character list, and a prologue. The character list is encoded as a castList structure within a div1 container in the front part. The cast list consists of castItem elements, listing the roles (role) with their description (roleDesc). Each role is identified with the xml:id attribute. Three named groups of characters are grouped into castGroup elements; one nameless group of minor characters is listed as castItem type="list". Notice, how in the latter type of lists, both role and roleDesc are used a bit indiscriminate at first sight (e.g., both Romans and Goths and Romans occur). On second sight, however, role appears to be used for all speaking characters, who are formally identified with an xml:id attribute. The front matter is concluded with a prologue (prologue) consisting of 28 lines spoken by the Chorus. The cast list is succeeded by a general description of the setting in which the action takes place, in the set element.

The body of the play (body) consists of 14 scenes, grouped into 5 acts. Acts are encoded in div1 elements, in which the scenes occur as div2 elements. Each speech is marked with sp, containing the indication of the speaker as it occurs in the source text (speaker), as well as a formal indication (using the who attribute). Stage instructions are encoded inside stage. The speeches are encoded as verse lines (l) Notice, however, how logical lines (l) are distinguished from typographic lines: the latter are explicitly encoded with the lb element, occurring inside l.Notice, how the lb elements in this example make use of the ed (edition) attribute, for indicating the specific edition in which the specific line breaks occur. For an explanation of this feature, see section 3.10.3 Milestone Elements of the TEI Guidelines.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ SATURNINUS son to the late Emperor of Rome and afterwards declared Emperor BASSIANUS brother to Saturninus; in love with Lavinia TITUS ANDRONICUS a noble Roman general against the Goths MARCUS ANDRONICUS tribune of the people and brother to Titus sons to Titus Andronicus. LUCIUS QUINTUS MARTIUS MUTIUS YOUNG Lucius a boy, son to Lucius PUBLIUS son to Marcus the Tribune kinsmen to Titus. SEMPRONIUS CAIUS VALENTINE AEMILIUS a noble Roman sons to Tamora. ALARBUS DEMETRIUS CHIRON AARON a Moor, beloved by Tamora A Captain Tribune Messenger and Clown Romans Goths and Romans TAMORA Queen of the Goths LAVINIA daughter to Titus Andronicus A Nurse Senators Tribunes Officers Soldiers and Attendants

Scene: Rome, and the country near it.

ACT II SCENE II A forest near Rome. Horns and cry of hounds heard. Enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with Hunters, etc., MARCUS, LUCIUS, QUINTUS, and MARTIUS. Tit. The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, The fields are fragrant and the woods are green: Uncouple here and let us make a bay And wake the emperor and his lovely bride And rouse the prince and ring a hunter's peal, That all the court may echo with the noise. Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours, To attend the emperor's person carefully: I have been troubled in my sleep this night, But dawning day new comfort hath inspired. A cry of hounds, and horns winded in a peal. Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, BASSIANUS, LAVINIA, DEMETRIUS, CHIRON, and Attendants. Many good morrows to your majesty; Madam, to you as many and as good: I promised your grace a hunter's peal. Sat. And you have rung it lustily, my lord; Somewhat too early for new-married ladies. Bas. Lavinia, how say you? Lav. I say, no; I have been broad awake two hours and more. Sat. Come on, then; horse and chariots let us have, And to our sport. To TamoraMadam, now shall ye see Our Roman hunting. Marc. I have dogs, my lord, Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase, And climb the highest promontory top. Tit. And I have horse will follow where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the plain. Dem. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound, But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground. Exeunt. Adapted from a TEI P4 encoding of William Shakespeare’s play (Shakespeare 1594). TEI XML source available from .