[English] Twitter Sonnets

[Jackson Bates]

Hi all,

Before you start clicking any of the links please be aware that you may see bad language. If this is likely to cause offence, don't click :)

In short: Some guy wrote a computer program that reads Tweets scanning them for iambic pentameter. When it finds a line that scans, it pairs it with another like it that rhymes and then retweets the couplet. This leads to an ongoing 'sonnet' (Not really a by the books sonnet of course, more like a Browning dramatic monologue...but you get the point!)

Because it's a computer program it occasionally gets it wrong - but I read it last night and it was lovely. It makes the truly mundane appear heroic and profound. I for one have been inspired to write all of my reports and essay feedback from now on in couplets of rhyming iambic pentameter...

The twitter stream: http://twitter.com/#!/pentametron
The MeFi post about it: http://www.metafilter.com/114145/With-algorithms-subtle-and-discrete-I-seek-iambic-writings-to-retweet
The Mefi Projects from the creator:  http://projects.metafilter.com/3515/With-algorithms-subtle-and-discrete-I-seek-iambic-writings-to-retweet

Once the iambs get into your speech
You'll end up speaking with them for a week

Jackson Bates
Waverley Christian College
Coordinator of Learning Technologies
VCE English | VCE IT Applications

Blog: http://mrjbates.wordpress.com<http://mrjbates.wordpress.com/>
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jacksonbates


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