Xref: utzoo comp.lang.prolog:1360 comp.ai:2425
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!glacier!jbn
From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.prolog,comp.ai
Subject: Re: poetry composing programs
Keywords: need references
Message-ID: <17794@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 23 Oct 88 16:53:50 GMT
References: <288@lafcol.UUCP>
Reply-To: jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 11


      I once generated poetry using 1940's vintage IBM plugboard-wired
accounting machines.  This was back in the 1960s, when computer time was
harder to come by.  I used an IBM 85 collator, a 402 accounting machine,
and an 82 sorter.  The basic technique involved imposing the grammatical
pattern of an existing poem on random words.  Some additional checks
insured that the word-to-word transitions were similar to ones that had 
appeared in other text.    

      The result was not particularly profound, but read well in spots.

					John Nagle