Poetry
This program produces random verse which might loosely be considered in the Japanese Haiku style. It uses 20 phrases in four groups of five phrases each and generally cycles through the groups in order. It inserts commas (random — 19% of the time), indentation (random — 22% of the time), and starts new paragraphs (18% probability but at least once every 20 phrases).
The phrases in POETRY are somewhat suggestive of Edgar Allen Poe. Try it with phrases from computer technology, from love and romance, from four-year-old children, or from some other project. Send us the output.
Here are some phrases from nature to try:
Carpet of ferns Mighty Oaks
Morning dew Grace and beauty
Tang of dawn Silently singing
Swaying pines Nature speaking
Entrances me Untouched, unspoiled
Soothing me Shades of green
Rustling leaves Tranquility
Radiates calm …so peaceful
The original author of this program is unknown. It was modified and reworked by Jim Bailey, Peggy Ewing, and Dave Ahl at DEC.
As published in Basic Computer Games (1978):
Downloaded from Vintage Basic at http://www.vintage-basic.net/games.html