Combinatorics vs Grammar: Archeology of Computational Poetry in Tape Mark I

Abstract

The paper presents a reconstruction of the automatic poetry generation system realized in Italy in 1961 by Nanni Balestrini to compose the poem Tape Mark I. The major goal of the paper is to provide a critical comparison between the high-level approach that seems to be suggested by the poet, and the low-level combinatorial algorithm that was actually implemented. This comparison allows to assess the relevance of how the available technology constrained and shaped the work of the poet, to reveal some of his aesthetic assumptions, and to discuss some aspects of the relation between human and the machine in the creative process.