The use of AI tools or generative AI, for writing blog posts and automating tasks such as formatting, structuring, and grammar checks is becoming increasingly popular. These tools have made the writing and publishing process easier and more efficient. However, AI’s capabilities go beyond just blog writing. It can also be used for creating poetry. In this blog post, I share an interesting experience where I experimented with AI-generated poetry to surprise a friend on their birthday.
Introduction
The idea of a limerick came out of my curiosity to know more about the different types of poetry. I had of course learnt about Limerick, Rhyme, Ode, Ballad… many years ago. I have used a few of these formats in my own poems .
I have believed that re-learning or a revision is always helpful. Therefore, I turned to chatGPT and began asking all sorts of questions about poetry writing. That day happened to be my friend’s Birthday. Lets’ call him “Shirish”.
My first attempt with AI generated Poetry – A Limerick
Before concluding my rather interesting session with the AI tool, I and provided it with a prompt to generate a limerick. The result was impressive. chatGPT composed a witty and charming limerick that captured my friend’s essence perfectly. Excited by this unexpected success, I decided to proceed with writing the limerick in a birthday card that I presented to my friend.
My Prompt to chatGPT was as below
Q. Can you write a limerick for my dear friend Shirish? Some of his qualities are- he loves to play tennis, he is high energy, has a great presence of mind, a rather sarcastic sense of humor, and above all, he loves his electric cars.
The reply from chatGPT was quite interesting
Sure, here is a limerick for your friend Shirish:
There once was a chap named Shirish,
Whose energy never seemed to diminish.
With a racket and car, he'd outshine a star,
And his wit, oh it could vanquish.
On the court or in an electric ride,
His zest for life, he could never hide.
With a presence of mind, and humor unkind,
In his company, joy is amplified.
chatGPT went on to translate the poem in Hindi and Kannada upon my request. The Hindi version was rather sub-par (not surprises there). Moreover, given my limited Kannada reading abilities, I am not posting either translation here.
My second attempt – A Rhyme by Bing Chat
Yesterday while exploring Bing chat, I was pleasantly surprised when egged me to clik on the tab “write a poem”. Intrigued, I accepted the offer. Soon, I was delighted to read a beautiful, rhyming poem generated by Bing. To my greater surprise, Bing also provided me with references to two websites that specialize in generating poetry using AI tools. Intrigued by this discovery, I immediately shared the links with a poet friend who has published his works in poetry journals in the UK.
Translating poetry using AI
Speaking of translations, here is the snippet of ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth, generated by chatGPT. The entire translation is posted below the image
AI generated Poetry as a series of Tweets
Having tried my hand at generating poetry,and translating it in different languages, I decided to take the idea down a different path. What if a poem was published as a series of tweets? To test this idea out, I chose a different poem.. this time, Tyger, Tyger by William Blake. I also opted for google Bard instead of chatGPT.
AI generated Poetry in Visual Form
I asked a third AI tool, youchat, to present the poem “Tyger, Tyger” in the form of Egyptian Heiroglyphics. This turned out to be quite an interesting experience. Youchat tried to post the generated image on imgur.
Imgur deleted the poem unfortunately (and for the right reasons). I asked youchat to paste the image in binary format. Below was the output.
In case you found the above images rather… dry and boring, here is an oil painting of a tiger for you!
Generative AI and Poetry
This experience of AI-generated poetry has left me both fascinated and curious about the future of AI in creative endeavors. It opens up new possibilities for blending technology and art, and it challenges our conventional understanding of creativity. While AI can assist and inspire, it is essential to acknowledge the unique touch that human creativity brings.
Before we wrap up, here are the two websites that Bing suggested I have not checked them out at the time of publishing this post, visit at your own risk!
The Surprises Continue
While writing this blog post, google bard also suggested an AI tool called PoemPortraits (a google site) that allows you to enter a few keywords and generate a poem based on those keywords.