@inproceedings{ToivanenJT:ICCC2013,
author = {Jukka M. Toivanen and Matti J\"arvisalo and Hannu Toivonen},
title = {Harnessing Constraint Programming for Poetry Composition},
editor = {Mary Lou Maher and Tony Veale and Rob Saunders and Oliver Bown}, 
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on 
	  Computational Creativity (ICCC 2013)},
pages = {160-167},
year = {2013},
publisher = {The University of Sydney},
}

Abstract:

Constraints are a major factor shaping the conceptual space
of many areas of creativity. We propose to use constraint 
programming techniques and off-the-shelf constraint solvers in
the creative task of poetry writing. We show how many aspects 
essential in different poetical forms, and partially even
in the level of language syntax and semantics can be 
represented as interacting constraints.

The proposed architecture has two main components. One
takes input or inspiration from the user or the environment,
and based on it generates a specification of the space and
aesthetic of a poem as a set of declarative constraints. The
other component explores the specified space using a 
constraint solver.

We provide an elementary set of constraints for composition
of poetry, we illustrate their use, and we provide examples of
poems generated with different sets of constraints