In 1966 Life Magazine celebrated Danish scholar Piet Hein (1905-1966) in an article (found here, p. 55...) by Jim Hicks entitled "Piet Hein; Denmark's Scientist-Poet." The article begins with a story of Hein's proposal of a superellipse as a design for a city plaza and then goes on to share some of Hein's poetic creations -- short, witty poems that he called "grooks".
This blog has posted grooks in the past (in May, 2010 and in August, 2017) and here are several more to enjoy.
Grooks by Piet Hein
LAST THINGS FIRST
Solutions to problems
are easy to find:
the problem's a great
contribution.
What's truly an art
is to wring from your mind
a problem to fit
a solution.
SMALL THINGS AND GREAT
He that lets
the small things bind him
leaves the great
undone behind him.
WIDE ROAD
To make a name for learning
when other roads are barred,
take something very easy
and make it very hard.
And, if you'd like like to explore, here are links to more and more grooks.
My all time favorite grook is :
ReplyDeleteProblems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.