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Can computers write poetry?

edited May 2014 in Writing
Anyone hear this on R4 this morning. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0435kkd The computer-generated poem is at 15min 35. It provoked fresh ideas, images and associations, but it still felt dead at its heart to me. I don't know what was missing - fear maybe.
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  • edited May 2014
    if you see a pool in moonlight and think 'mercury', that's poetic. A computer does it the other way round - how can I describe a pool illuminated by moonlight; whizz through simile data bank, thesaurus data bank etc

    H R Leavis said something interesting on this topic...cant find it at the moment
  • edited May 2014
    Yes I heard that programme Ana. They did the same exercise with music. It just didn't work for me. The creative human element was missing.

    I love Bill's explanation - maybe a computer can't do metaphor - metaphor matters to produce good poetry, good images.
    if you see a pool in moonlight and think 'mercury', that's poetic.



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