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by piceas 2814 days ago
Children's poetry makes for fun source texts for these projects. In this case dumping a bunch of old poems generated mostly gibberish but I found the following examples amusing.

While here on my deathbed I try to relate My many misfortunes and miseries great. Poor thoughtless young thing! If I recollect right, I began life in March, on a clear frosty night; And before I could see or was half a week old, I nearly had perished, the barn was so cold. But this chilly spring I got pretty well over, But there wasn't a tree for miles around, They were too frightened to stay on the ground, And moused in the stable, or played in the clover, Or till I was weary, which seldom occurred, Ran after my tail, which I took for a bird

The wind did blow, the cloak did fly, Like streamer long and gay, Till loop and button failing both, At last it flew away. Then might all people well discern The bottles he had slung, A bottle swinging at each side, As hath been said or sung. The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all, And ev'ry soul cried out, Well done!

When Betty screaming came down stairs, The wine is left behind! Good lack! Quoth he yet bring it me, My leathern belt likewise, In which I bear my trusty sword When I do exercise. Now Mistress Gilpin, careful soul!

There as the mother sits all day, On business from their houses, And late at night returning home, To cheer their babes and spouses; While you and I have oft-times heard How men are killed and undone, By overturns from carriages, By thieves, and fires in London. We know what risks these landsmen run, From noblemen to tailors.

2 comments

Very nice! Especially "till loop and button failing both at last it flew away"

Feels like it's missing a sentence at the end that rhymes with tailor (eg "and equally assaults us the great big sleep, from skilled oarsmen to new sailors)

Lewis Carrol is actually really fun in just a pure markov chain; usually the diction is sufficient to put someone in the mood for Carrol, which means nobody really expects it to make sense anyways.
One of my favorite parts of Gödel, Escher, Bach was the description of translating Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky into various languages -- particularly troublesome since the original poem contains few English words to begin with.
I think that just highlights how hard poetry is to translate in general. Carroll picked those words with thoughts to how they sound no less than other poets that restrict themselves to English words.

Translating poetry well where both meaning and sounds are vital can be harder than writing the poem in the first place was.