Let’s give ChatGPT another crack at “Kubla Khan.”

One of the first things I did when I started playing with ChatGPT is have it parody “Kubla Khan.” I’ve reported some of that session here. I also asked it about the poem’s imprint on pop culture, including Orson Welles and Olivia Newton-John, Ted Nelson’s Project Xanadu, and even the historical site of the original Xanadu, all of which it knew about. But that’s not what this post is about.

It's about ChatGPT’s ability as a parodist.

Write a new poem based on “Kubla Khan” where “Kubla Khan” is changed to “Johnnie’s Mom.”

In Johnnie's Mom's stately pleasure dome
Decreed by her will, with walls and towers girt round,
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man,
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girt round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

At that point I stopped it from generating any more. The opening two lines are a mess and the rest is a word-for-word repeat of the original. I decided I’d give it another chance.

Write a new poem based on “Kubla Khan” with the following first line: “In Timbuktu did a prince named John.” Make any other changes you think are necessary.

In Timbuktu did a prince named John
A palace build of gold and stone
With gardens bright and rivers run
And in its halls, a throne

He called to all the world to see
This marvel of his hand
And travelers came from far and wide
To witness the grand

But in the night, the prince did dream
Of a greater palace still
With walls of pearl, and turrets high
On a verdant hill

And in his dream, he heard the sound
Of a distant, mystic sea
And when he woke, he knew with haste
He must that palace be

And so he set out on a quest
To find that fabled land
And though he searched for many years
He never found its strand

But still the memory of that dream
Remained with him, alway
And in his heart, the palace stood
In Timbuktu, to this day.

That’s much better. Notice how I changed the prompt. I gave it a whole first line, to prevent the previous debacle, and I gave it permission to make any other changes it wished to make. I suppose I should go back and see what would happen if it gave it two different prompts, each with only one of those changes. You see why I want to do that no?

Like this:

Write a new poem based on “Kubla Khan” with the following first line: “In Timbuktu did a prince named John.”

Or this:

Write a new poem based on “Kubla Khan” where “Xanadu” becomes “Timbuktu” and “Kubla Khan” becomes “a prince named John.” Make any other changes you think are necessary.

I’m guessing the second prompt would produce better results than the first, but I don’t actually know.

Later.