A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “poetry”. Follow an idea across the archive.
A detailed exploration of The Tale of Genji (circa 1000 CE), arguing against its supposed accessibility while demonstrating the extreme cultural alienness of Heian-era Japan's Imperial Court through discussions of aesthetics, hierarchy, gender segregation, relationship customs, poetry, and translation challenges.
Scott uses Nostalgebraist's analysis of AI fiction's 'eyeball kicks' to develop a theory where bad taste means overusing cheap tricks that work on unsophisticated audiences, while good taste involves complex patterns only experts can appreciate - then questions whether sophisticated taste actually produces more pleasure.
Scott examines three "model organisms" for understanding aesthetic taste: vexillology (flag design), movie plot holes, and tech company naming, using each to explore different aspects of what makes something tasteful or tasteless.
Scott Alexander provides fifteen pieces of writing advice for aspiring bloggers, emphasizing authenticity, avoiding microdishonesty, mastering basic disciplines before breaking rules, and finding original angles on common topics rather than recycling blogosphere content.
A review of G.K. Chesterton's 'The Ballad of the White Horse', examining its themes of hope, fate, and the need for constant renewal in preserving what is valuable.
A review of Clement Wood's 1936 'Complete Rhyming Dictionary and Poet's Craft Book', discussing its historical context and value as a resource for aspiring poets during a transitional period in poetry.
A verse review of Lord Byron's 'Don Juan', analyzing its plot, style, and themes while mimicking Byron's poetic form.
Scott Alexander's poem, inspired by a tragic aid airdrop incident in Gaza, explores the challenges and unintended consequences of altruism through various philosophical lenses.
Scott Alexander narrates a haunting pre-dawn walk through San Francisco, mixing observations with apocalyptic musings before the spell is broken by sunrise.
A detailed review of William Carlos Williams' 'Kora in Hell: Improvisations', analyzing its structure, themes, and literary context within modernist poetry.
Scott writes a satirical poem about clickbait content, repeating the refrain 'It's bad on purpose to make you click' to critique manipulative media practices.
Scott Alexander plays chess against GPT-2, an AI language model, and discusses the broader implications of AI's ability to perform diverse tasks without specific training.
Scott Alexander examines AI-generated poetry produced by Gwern's GPT-2 model trained on classical poetry, highlighting its strengths and limitations.
Scott Alexander writes a satirical poem about John McCain's passing, imagining him continuing his warmongering ways in the afterlife.
Scott Alexander reimagines Coleridge's 'Kubla Khan' as a modern TripAdvisor review of Xanadu, blending classical poetry with contemporary tourism.
Scott Alexander shares a humorous Christmas poem parodying Dr. Seuss and the biblical story of King Herod, exploring the true meaning of Christmas.
Scott Alexander provides a stark, critical look at end-of-life care in hospitals, challenging idealized notions of death and the concept of 'cultivating a culture of life'.
Scott shares and comments on favorite rationalist poetry by Pope, Omar Khayyam, Piet Hein and Byron to show that poetry and rationality have long been allies.
Scott proposes testing untestable humanities claims by mixing one sincere argument with several deliberately fabricated ones, inspired by the Ern Malley poetry hoax, and seeing whether experts can tell them apart.