CS470 Etude1: Poets of Sound and Time

  • Stanford Vision and Learning Lab

  • Stanford University

Desciption

This etude is designed to use program chuck and ML algorithm word2vec to compose two artful poems. Unlike regular poems, multiple components including texts, sound, and time should be combined together to make the poems artful. Instructions and guidance are provided in the official website.

Poem 1: "Every End is a New Start"

Poem 2: "You are the Beginning of Every Thing"

Reflection

It is my first ever attempt to create digital poetry. The two poems, "Every End is a New Start" and "You are the Beginning of Every Thing," while building on existing templates, demonstrat a blend of music and (bit of) AI.

"Every End is a New Start" resonates with a sense of continuity of love or life. The idea of enabling every sentence to start with the last word of the previous sentence, provides a structural coherence. Similarly, the shifting tones analogize the fluctuating emotions and perspectives in life, making the poem feel like a cycled experience but in new journeys.

Meanwhile, "You are the Beginning of Every Thing" presents a different approach with different feelings. Each line is initiated from a word in the user prompt, which is accompnied by a series of homogeneously assembled tones. As the name suggests, everything created in the poem, are initiatied from the very first user prompt. This reflects on the meanings of love and life in general.

Both poems, in their essence, encapsulate what makes something "poetry": the ability to evoke emotion, to connect different ideas into a whole, and to leave an impression that spark in the mind.

Acknowledgements

The poems were created by referencing on the template codes provided in the official website. Tiange thanks Ge Wang and Andrew for their help.