In class we have learned about illustrations (and all of its possible
meanings), different techniques on how to manipulate text in order to
change how a poem appears and how a sentence might have different
meanings according to the reader. This principle can be applied to
programing as well. Though it is understandable how some may believe
that programming and poetry are at opposite ends of the spectrum,I
believe that we can bring them much closer. For instance in programming
and in poetry the writer must take care of syntax, language and
structure otherwise the program or poem will not work.
As a programmer I feel that seeing a new way (more efficient and more
effective) to code a program is like poetry, because there is a hidden
meaning in the same way there is always a better way to code a program.
To code, one needs creativity, to think out of the box one needs EXTRA
creativity and most people would agree the same applies when one writes a
poem.
During class I thought that I was the only person to think about these
similarities and so I felt a little confused and doubtful about it
because Programming and Poetry seem so different, making the chances of
me being wrong very likely. However, Marilyn suggested a couple of times
for me to research about this idea which I did and shall talk about
further in my next post :-p
A few years ago I read the biography of John Sculley, Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple : A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future. Sculley is the former Apple CEO (1983–1993).
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget his mention of Steve Wozniak's approach to programming was writing "code like poetry" ... or something along those lines. So, don't yourself. You're on to something ... and you're not the only one to consider the correlation.
If you're interested Matt Ward at Smashing Magazine wrote an article about this very topic called The Poetics Of Coding.
(There is also a blog post that disagrees with Ward's assessment.)
When I read some of the works in 73 Poems by e. e. cummings at the beginning of the semester I thought that many of the poems looked like computer language.
Thanks Sarita, I just skim the article and it's very similar to what I have in mind for one of my next post. Actually I'm going to use my own screenshot and going to tell my own interpretation.
DeleteI think this is great. You should definitely keep looking into this because I think it's great for people out there to see that there is a way to create poetry out of anything. This is literally marrying technology and poetry together. I also think that this is an amazing opportunity for other programmers to create their own poetry.
ReplyDeleteYou are 100% correct, I totally agree with you. It's amazing how creativity goes beyond of what we currently know and create something new, in this case a "marriage between Technology and poetry". I also believe that we are capable of performing this kind of marriage and amaze others :-)
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