The 2016-2017 school year is drawing to a close. Some are loving their math teachers and some are celebrating them with poetry. Here are the opening stanzas of a poem by Mia Pratt about her teacher -- the complete poem is found at here (at PoetrySoup.com).
My Math Teacher by Mia Pratt
My math teacher was such a colorful character
she was the queen of Mathematics at our school
she loved linear regressions and probability
and permutations and combinations too!
My math teacher loved to
entertain us with her Listerine coated smile
and her heart as pure
as the golden sand on Small Hope Bay
she loved making calculus and matrices fun for us
while March 14th was her second Christmas
and grading our exams was her New Year's Day!
. . .
Poet and novelist John Updike (1932-2009) was a math teacher's son -- here is a link to his sonnet, "Midpoint," about his father. Additional poems about teachers may be found using the blog SEARCH.
Showing posts with label John Updike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Updike. Show all posts
Monday, May 22, 2017
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Poetry from a math teacher's son
In an earlier post I have noted how effectively mathematicians and their mathematics may be described by poets who are in the same family. This link, too, leads to portraits of mathematicians.
Poet and novelist John Updike (1932-2009) was the son of a math teacher and the selection below is a sonnet that begins in the style of a math-class word-problem linking his own age with that of his father.
from Midpoint by John Updike
FATHER, as old as you when I was four,
I feel the restlessness of nearing death
But lack your manic passion to endure,
Your Stoic fortitude and Christian faith.
Remember, at the blackboard, factoring?
Poet and novelist John Updike (1932-2009) was the son of a math teacher and the selection below is a sonnet that begins in the style of a math-class word-problem linking his own age with that of his father.
from Midpoint by John Updike
FATHER, as old as you when I was four,
I feel the restlessness of nearing death
But lack your manic passion to endure,
Your Stoic fortitude and Christian faith.
Remember, at the blackboard, factoring?
Labels:
blackboard,
factoring,
John Updike,
midpoint,
teacher
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Land without a square
Here is a bit of light verse from the pen of John Updike (1932-2009).
ZULUS LIVE IN LAND
WITHOUT A SQUARE by John Updike
A Zulu lives in a round world. If he does not leave his reserve.
he can live his whole life through and never see a straight line.
--headline and text from The New York Times
In Zululand the huts are round,
The windows oval, and the rooves
Thatched parabolically. The ground
Is tilled in curvilinear grooves.
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