How To Write Poems With Artificial Intelligence—Using Google's Verse by Verse

Hi readers and writerly friends!

Today in Artsy Things, we’re going to explore writing poetry using artificial intelligence (AI). I heard about this from an article a few years ago —I tried to find it, but so many others have come out discussing the same topic, I haven’t been able to. However, I have linked some particularly interesting articles at the end of this post for further reading. All other articles quoted in this post will be linked at the end as well.

Artificial intelligence

Before we can create poetry using artificial intelligence, we must first understand what the term means in definition as well as what it means for the future of humanity. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world in ways no one can yet fully predict.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) of Oxford University Press defines artificial intelligence as:

“Noun. The capacity of computers or other machines to exhibit or simulate intelligent behaviour; the field of study concerned with this. Abbreviated AI.” (OED 2008)

Artificial intelligence can also be described as the theory and development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, translation between languages, and other tasks that normally require human intelligence. Initially, AI included search engines, recommendation algorithms such as those used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix, computer programs that could play games like chess with users. In the last decade, we have seen an emergence of AI applications that can complete a myriad of tasks that typically require human intelligence. These applications include understanding and responding to human speech (apps such as Siri and Alexa), self-driving cars (such as Tesla), and even art making and poetry writing programs (such as the infamous Lensa app and Verse by Verse by Google).

In his article, “Can AI Write Authentic Poetry?” cognitive psychologist and poet Keith Holyoak explores whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity. In the article, he makes the comparison of AI to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein:

“On the hazier side of the present horizon, there may come a tipping point at which AI surpasses the general intelligence of humans. (In various specific domains, notably mathematical calculation, the intersection point was passed decades ago.) Many people anticipate this technological moment, dubbed the Singularity, as a kind of Second Coming—though whether of a savior or of Yeats’s rough beast is less clear. Perhaps by constructing an artificial human, computer scientists will finally realize Mary Shelley’s vision.” (Holyoak 2022, par.6)

Despite the bleak predictions of how AI may one day replace all human activity, the reality is that this technology is simply not there yet. While AI can simulate human intelligence successfully in many tasks, it is still lacking in the poetry writing department and requires humans to be the editors and final decision makers in the outcome of a poem. Holyoak explains this current iteration of poetry AI being a system that “operates using a generate-then-select method” (Holyoak 2022, par.10).

In his article, Keith Holyoak ponders the validity of AI poetry, functionalism, the Hard Problem of consciousness, and the critical essence or subjective experience within poetry. I have linked his article at the end of this blog post, and I highly encourage you to read it if you’re even remotely interested in these topics.

Users can select up to three poets to serve as their muses. They will provide suggestions as you write. Photo by Payton Hayes.

So, what is Verse by Verse?

Verse by Verse, is a powerful poetry writing AI created by Google, that produces suggestions line-by-line inspired by famed classical poets such as Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The tool allows users to select up to three poets they want to mimic from a list of twenty-two classical poets.

Google’s about section on the Verse by Verse demo page says this of the software:

Verse by Verse is an experiment in human-AI collaboration for writing poetry. We have created a cadre of AI poets, trained on the poems of many of America's classical poets, to work alongside you in writing poetry.
Each poet will try to offer suggestions that they think would best continue a poem in the style of that given poet. As such, try working with different poets to see whose style best meshes with your own.
Explore what works best for you when composing the poem. You can try using the poets' suggestions (including editing them to better match your style!), or write your own inspired by what they suggest. (Google)

I conducted a little more research to gain a better understanding of how the AI operates and how best to use it for writing my own poetry. The article “Google’s ‘Verse by Verse’ can help you write poetry” by Aditya Saroha provides insight into how the muses provides suggestions based on classical poets. Saroha said, “Google explained that Verse by Verse's suggestions are not the original lines of verse the poets had written, but novel verses generated to sound like lines of verse the poets could have written. To build the tool, Google’s engineers trained models on a large collection of classic poetry. They fine-tuned the models on each individual poet’s body of work to try to capture their style of writing” (Saroha 2021, par.8-10). So, the poetry that the tool’s muses provide the user with were not actually lines crafted by classical poets, but rather inspired by their individual bodies of work.

In the article, “Google’s ‘Verse by Verse’ Lets You Imitate Writing Style Of Your Favourite Classical Poet” by Rudrani Gupta, provided quotes from one of Google’s software engineers, Dave Uthus where he explained how the AI was trained to write like classical poets. She said, “The suggestions of the new verses are possible because the tool has been ‘trained to have a general semantic understanding of what lines of the verse would best follow a previous line of verse,’ said engineer Dave Uthus. ‘Even if you write on topics not commonly seen in classic poetry, the system will try its best to make suggestions that are relevant,’ he added” (Gupta 2020, par.4). By training the AI in this fashion, the tool allows modern poets to write about modern topics, themes, and concepts, while imitating classical style and voice.

While this software can prove to be a useful writing too, it isn’t intended to replace talented poets. Saroha concludes his article by noting that the tool is meant to aid poets rather than replacing them. He said, “Through the tool, Google aims to ‘augment’ the creative process of composing a poem. Google said Verse by Verse is a creative helper, an inspiration and not a replacement” (Saroha 2021, par.11 ).

Google’s Verse by Verse, an AI poetry-writing tool. Photo by Payton Hayes.

I first tried using Verse by Verse in 2020

I was first introduced to Verse by Verse in 2020 and I tried it just to see how effective it could be. At the time, I was really getting into my own religious deconstruction and exploring overt sexuality and expression. As a result, my writing at the time certainly reflected my interests and spiritual journey. I typed in words such as holy, prayer, pleasure, love, lust, sex, worship, devotion, god, and church. The poets I selected as my muses were Whitman, Emerson, and Poe and as I wrote each verse on the left, they provided me with inspiration from the column on the right.

I do not have the original poem the AI created when I first did this exercise in 2020 however, from that, I ended up with the following poem:

PRAYER
"Oh God," she says, hands clasped together, fingers entwined, knees bent.
He doesn't answer; he does.
he answers with earnest, continued, devoted worship
head bowed, eyes closed, his mind devoid of all else but this
—this soul-shaking, earth-shattering pleasure, this blessed communion between man and woman,
the Holy Spirit an undoubted voyeur through the candlelight,
this holy practice wherein they do some of their finest praying. (Hayes 2020)

Revisiting Verse by Verse in 2022

To show you how this AI writes poetry and how it’s suggestions can be effective for your own poetry writing, I decided to give it another go in 2022. Below is a gallery of screenshots from the tool as I entered each verse/line at a time. As you can see, my muses Emerson, Poe, and Whitman all provided me with interesting and unique suggestions to include in my poem.

I used words and phrases that came to mind, without rhyme or reason. I typed out ten verses and my chosen muses produced three lines each to help inspire my poem. Below are the twenty-seven lines from each poet in the right column (totaling eighty-one lines among my muses).

Ralph Waldo Emerson Muse

Tides of the hands of the bold,
Tides of the North wind, and to woods
Tides of the hands of the snow;
Hearing a weary weary voice at happy eve,
Hearing a happy poet recount
Hearing a weary poet high
Whilst upper wits, and for their memory ave
Dwarfed for thy harp to willing hand;
Victor over war’s enchanted lid
Spreading their scent through a ian gold;
House in for the blood of their delight,
Bright with homage to their well-known delight!
Wield these young honey wine for their delight:
Escort and beauty for their sick delight:
Their shining beauty to each youthful lamp
Knew that their roar and pulse of kindred air:
Wield these first tones that shine through speak;
Bright with homage to their well-known delight!
Soothes with their shining sorrow;
Mixed with sand by other true delight.
Scent with thy summer horn.
Spreading their scent through fancy and desire;
Stream through thy friendship to the upper air,--
Beer and cup from every cottage beams–
Freedom and beauty for a delicate beams.
Strewed the wide wave with their enchanted maids;
Mixed with sand by other true liberty.

Walt Whitman Muse

Entering my feet over the prairies,
Wherein each stands or sweeps in the though,
Entering my feet upon the prairies
Splashing the waves with a yellow light,
Splashing the waves over the beach at night,
Splashing the river with a mystic midnight light,
Gave up the mighty and diverse hand
Rose the old drunkard, with a long side,
Making the young land tremble for the soul;
Wherein I feel so certain and happy,
Wherein all women pass from the world,
Encircled by a servant at hand;
Encircled by a servant at hand;
Making a song of a open air;
E’er lashes and clothes without wealth.
Thunder on stride on stride on lean words:
Rich greenish drift and the measureless light;
Wherein I understand each breath and the age;
Encircled by a delicate mouth and hand.
Mighty and perfect pour through the night.
Perfume the white arms of the summer night
Rich with ample forms and barbarian words,
Rich and perfect play for other globes!
Light the world with a mystic motion;
Encircled by a world in other bay;
Encircled by a perfect float in the air;
Encircled by a perfect float in the air:

Edgar Allen Poe Muse

Which fall’st into this world like rain
When in an happy Runic rhyme,
Wherein my youth and dreams and words,
Light as the lavas of summer air
Drowning a wild feeling with the sound
Tempting and dreaming in this passionate light
Filled with deep thoughts of thee.
Brought a silver, silken rest.
Brought a silver silken veil of light,
Beside the dames that gilded each bright noon,
Filled with light of life and light!
Brought down the world to me with their delight;
Put my own solace to a golden light,
Brought a silvery silken veil of light,
Hold about my fingers with their delight,
Divulge this secrets of that lovely isle!
To breathe those voice of thine. The lovely light
Nor ask the riches of the summer air;
To breathe those kisses of the summer air.
Sorrow with its own light eye.
Filled with light of many eyes.
A fountain of light. No living light
Hold about my fingers with their delight
Hold about my fingers as a crown.
Brought on a throne in their elysian air;
To breathe those kisses of the jewelled air;
To breathe those voice of thine.The lovely light

So, the muses definitely wrote…something. It’s not necessarily poetry —yet.

From those lines, I narrowed them down to my favorites in the following lines:

Wield these young honey wine for their delight:
Their shining beauty to each youthful lamp
Splashing the river with a mystic midnight light,
Wherein I feel so certain and happy,
Encircled by a delicate mouth and hand.
Light the world with a mystic motion;
Tempting and dreaming in this passionate light
Brought a silver silken veil of light,
Put my own solace to a golden light,
Brought a silvery silken veil of light,
Hold about my fingers with their delight,
To breathe those kisses of the summer air.

Here, you could put these lines back into the AI to see what you get. I decided to rework them myself to make them less abstract. The lines crossed out above, I ended up using below. I kept my first verse, “feminine beauty dressed in light” and used that as the first line for the poem.

Feminine being dressed in light
To breathe those kisses of the summer air
Held about her fingers my delight
Washed softly away my every care
Encircled by a delicate mouth and hand
Wherein I feel so happy and certain
Her shining beauty imprinted in the sand
She is most deserving of devotion

You don’t have to use all of the lines the muses provided you with. As you can see, I have only used a handful here. This poem isn’t complete, but you get the idea. I’m going to set these lines aside for use with another poem later. The suggestions from the muses in the tool may not have been completely sensible or eloquent, but its a great starting point for poets who may be stuck. It’s also a great way to practice mimicking your favorite classical poet’s writing style if you’d like. Although AI cannot yet write poetry that is indistinguishable from human poetry, it can certainly serve as a useful tool in your own poetry practice.

The next time you find yourself stuck on a line, try using AI to help you finish out your poem! If you try this, leave your work in the comments below! What was your favorite line the muses came up with? Let me know below!

Thank you for reading this blog post and if you’re interested in reading more about AI poetry or delving deeper into the sources I mentioned above, check out the bibliography and further reading sections below! Additionally, if you’d like to read similar posts, check out the related topics section. Lastly, if you want to read more posts from me, check out my recent blog posts.