How have forms and formulas for composing poetry like the sonnet been dictated by patterns? How does thinking of a poem as a sequence of words or combination of symbols detract from or enhance our understanding? How does an artificial intelligence read and replicate writing style without reference to the outside world? This introductory course offers an entry into reading and understanding poetry in the years 1500-1700 through pattern recognition, quantitative reasoning and natural language processing techniques, and would be equally suited for those interested in reevaluating literature from a new perspective and those seeking to learn to apply digital humanities skills, systemic thinking and quantitative methods to literary analysis.