Oxford School of Poetry/AI Chatbot – Poetry News Round Up August 17th

In today’s poetry news round up, we bring you a poem that was put together by Xiaoice, which is a Microsoft AI Chatbot. But first, let’s take a look at the launch of the Oxford School of Poetry…

The Oxford School of Poetry has been launched

Dr Kirsten Norrie, a writer and poet, has recently launched a poetry school, which is based on the one-to-one tutorials that have become a model in Oxbridge. The Oxford School of Poetry is going to be offering a number of different courses from September to both groups and individuals. These courses ill involve manuscript assessments and one-hour tutorials. Courses range from Oxford Poets to The Language of the Street. There are going to be some impressive poets teaching on these courses, including editor Luke Allan, academic Dr. Jenny McAuley, and Damian Le Bas.

AI Chatbot Produces A Book Of Poems

Critics are divided at the book of poems that has been published by Xiaoice, which is a Microsoft AI Chatbot. The China-facing Chatbot has been taught how to put together poetry, which has resulted in a book that consists of 139 poems. The book itself is called “The Sunlight That Lost The Glass Window.” As you may expect, there have been a mixture of reactions to the Chatbot’s efforts. Some people have exclaimed that it is a good way to bring poetry to younger audiences whereas others think that there is no substitution for human work.

 

One person who is a champion for this step forward in poetry production is Zhang Zonggang. Zhang is a literary professor at the Poetry Research Centre at the Nanjing University of Science and Technology. He stated that poetry produced by Chatbots could evoke reader responses that differ from the responses from human-made poems, opening up a whole new world of poetry. He called it a “poetic jump.”

 

However, not everyone agrees with Zhang. Yu Jian, a poet, is someone that falls into the opposite category, describing the poetry as “terrible.” He said that the slippery rhythm and tone of the poem disgusted him. Going on to then say that the sentences were superficial and aimless, with no inner logic for emotional expression. Sound harsh? Why not be the judge yourself? Take a look at one of the poems below:

 

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