In a book-discussion group in which I participate, we are reading some of the short fiction of Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) and that reading has provoked me to dive again into my copy of his Selected Poems (Ed. Alexander Coleman, Penguin, 1999). Here is one of Borges' poems that uses terminology from mathematics:
The Cyclical Night by Jorge Luis Borges
tr. Alistair Reid (1926-2014)
to Sylvina Bullrich
They knew it, the fervent pupils of Pythagoras:
That stars and men revolve in a cycle,
That fateful atoms will bring back the vital
Gold Aphrodite, Thebans, and agoras.
Showing posts with label endless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label endless. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Open and Closed -- Tomas Transtromer
A background in mathematics gives my enchantment with words a special twist. Each time I see familiar math terms in a poem I layer their mathematical meanings amid their mainstream ones. Two such terms are "open" and "closed." (I'll supply brief mathematical explanation at the end of this post but, first, here is "Open and Closed Spaces" -- a poem by the winner of the 2011 Nobel prize for Literature, Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer. )
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