November 2019 Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Essay Prescribed Title #1 RLE – Poetry created by computer software

Robert Gaskin’s poem “HAIKU ARE LIKE TROLLIES”:

Wandering in mist

Reaching out to soft sunlight 

Blue-scaled dragons pause.

Moon low over sea

Glimpse of discarded cocoon 

Small fish swimming idly. 

Prehistoric Digital Poetry an Archaeology of Forms, by Chris T. Funkhouser, The University of Alabama Press, 2007, pp. 58–59.

John Morris’s poem “Haiku—At Random”:

Frogling, listen, waters 

Insatiable, listen,

The still, scarecrow dusk. 

Listen: I dreamed, was slain. 

Up, battles! Echo these dusk 

Battles! Glittering . 

Fleas spring far, scarecrow,

Oh scarecrow, scarecrow: well, far, 

Scarecrow, oh scarecrow. 

“Prehistoric Digital Poetry an Archaeology of Forms.” Prehistoric Digital Poetry an Archaeology of Forms, by Chris T. Funkhouser, The University of Alabama Press, 2007, pp. 58–59.

Both poems were created with the use of computer programs. Gaskins and Morris (poets/producers) did not directly create the poems; they were created by the programs that Gaskins and Morris had written. The poems are not “accurate” in one sense as the producers did not directly choose the words, the syntax, etc.

Readers of the poems might have different interpretations of the poems depending on whether or not they know about their digital origins. This bias might affect the accuracy of their interpretations. (Whether or not an interpretation of a poem can be accurate or not is itself a matter of debate).