This month, we dive into the poetic pool of mid-19th century English poet Ted Hughes and reinstate a nightmare of many IGCSE students (including me) worldwide. An analysis of one of Hughes works in particular serves well to set the bar in challenging AI to be a catalyst in carrying poetry towards the future.
Relatively early on in his career, Hughes published his second poetry collection, “Lupercal” (1960). Therein was “Relic”, influenced by Hughes’ close bond with nature.
It’s a poem which follows no conventional pattern, almost to mimic the unpredictable or, more accurately, uncontrollable forces of nature. Hughes follows no necessarily consistent rhyme scheme throughout, nor does he keep to a regular syllabic rhythm. Hughes even goes beyond his own conventions consistently present in his other published poems by breaking the harmony of equal-length stanzas.
Arguably, “Relic” is how Hughes sees the world, and he wants to present this perspective as one with which readers may sympathise. He writes this perspective as a main character; just as how the spotlight never shines on something truly repulsive, Hughes has to use his poetic prowess to make his perspective seem as appealing as possible, with the ultimate goal being to gain the empathy of as many as possible.
And so how does Ted Hughes stack up against 21st century A.I? Let’s take a look at the work of ChatGPT as it reflects on the poetic mind of our society as a collective:
Echoes of Eternal Bonds
As morning’s light breaks through the mist,
I watch the world with a wistful twist,
Golden hues dance on shimmering lakes,
Reminding me how fleeting our time takes.
Through fields of green, where shadows blend,
Lives intertwine and threads extend,
In every glance and touch they seek,
Moments of meaning, both strong and weak,
A fleeting dance that cannot mend.
When twilight falls and stars emerge now bright,
I ponder their dreams in the soft moonlight,
Though their lives may seem small and unclear,
In each connection, they rise, sincere.
A story of love and loss, in quiet light.
The story seems to be that of two individuals who love each other to eternity, but who are doomed to never be fully together; “A fleeting dance” very well symbolises the characters’ fate. Perhaps this is a story more akin to that of Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy of destiny denied by worldly circumstances.
Life, love and death are said to be the three grand themes for all of literature. Chat obviously knows this, as it does not hesitate to go straight for “a story of love and loss”.
Chat evidently knows what humans like to read; it is able to use the most beautiful of words, create the most eloquent of sentences, but it simply has no life of its own to serve as the core of its linguistic compulsions. It does not have its own world views to express, sorrow to grieve or shattered heart to be healed; it does not have a purpose for itself to be writing this poem.
So for now, AI, or at the very least ChatGPT, is subject to being an imitator of grand ideas, much like a child mimicking the actions of its parents walking, with no idea of where it actually wants to go. It can create immaculate images of life, but will never understanding what it would mean to live it itself. Luckily for us, humans are not troubled by this; we are all given the common gift to experience life.
This is all to say that, in the case of poetry, AI will not be replacing human poets any time soon; and one does not need to be Ted Hughes to be considered a poet. One simply needs to be human.
