Out of the 925 word sample the word that was easiest to define was “baby” (score = 6.79) and the word that was the hardest to define was “gadfly” (score = 1.92).

“Furthermore, the amateur poets were more likely to use more emotional words, both negative and positive.”

sciencebarrowY’all relax OK Australia finally figured out contemporary American poetry y’all. Post your scores, losers. > 0.5 is professional and < 0.5 is amateur. Be sure to read the, um, “methodology.” According to poetry journalist Patrick Gaughan, the highest so far (at 4.2) is WCW’s good old wheelbarrow coloring book, and noted anti-poetry skeptic/fiction engineer Jonathan Volk reports that “an untitled Jewel poem just got a 1.17.” Stay tuned for breaking developments. (Discovery credit goes to poetry scientist Anne Cecelia Holmes.)

Craft Notes / 47 Comments
June 5th, 2013 / 2:20 pm