British poet Wendy Cope frequently includes edgy humor in her poems (she is, indeed, a prizewinner in light verse) -- and I like that. In the poem below (found at PoetryFoundation.org and originally published in Poetry in 2006), Cope examines arguments of whether our world is flat or round. Part 2 of the poem involves the interesting permutation pattern that is called a pantoum (Lines 2 and 4 of each four-line stanza are repeated (approximately) as lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza -- and the final stanza is wrapped into the first).
Differences of Opinion by Wendy Cope
1 HE TELLS HER
He tells her that the earth is flat --
He knows the facts, and that is that.
In altercations fierce and long
She tries her best to prove him wrong,
But he has learned to argue well.
He calls her arguments unsound
And often asks her not to yell.
She cannot win. He stands his ground.
The planet goes on being round.
Showing posts with label sphere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sphere. Show all posts
Friday, January 8, 2016
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The magic of mathematics (in art)
Australian teacher and poet Erica Jolly is convinced that breaking down the barriers that
make silos of sciences and humanities subjects will promote better
education systems and improve job prospects for students. She brings mathematics into this engaging poem found in Holding Patterns, an online book of physics and engineering poems, part of the "Science Made Marvelous" project.
Sculpture at Questacon (Australia National Science and Technology Center)
children are turning
a great stone sphere
this way and that
smoothly, easily.
Sculpture at Questacon (Australia National Science and Technology Center)
by Erica Jolly
It looks like magic --children are turning
a great stone sphere
this way and that
smoothly, easily.
Labels:
Erica Jolly,
imagination,
mathematics,
poetry,
sphere,
STEAM,
STEM
Friday, May 16, 2014
Pound on poetry and mathematics
HERE at PoetryFoundation.org we find an article by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), published in POETRY Magazine in 1916, in which Sandburg offers highest praise to poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972). Sandburg includes this quote from a 1910 essay by Pound that connects poetry and mathematics.
The complete article is available here.
And, in a footnote* to the poem "In a Station of the Metro" -- found in my Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry we find a bit more of Pound's mathematical thinking.
"Poetry is a sort of inspired mathematics, which gives us equations,
not for abstract figures, triangles, spheres and the like, but equations
for the human emotions. If one have a mind which inclines to magic
rather than science, one will prefer to speak of these equations
as spells or incantations; it sounds more arcane, mysterious, recondite."
The complete article is available here.
And, in a footnote* to the poem "In a Station of the Metro" -- found in my Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry we find a bit more of Pound's mathematical thinking.
Labels:
abstract,
Carl Sandburg,
equation,
Ezra Pound,
figure,
mathematics,
Metro,
poetry,
sphere,
triangle
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Homage to Euclid
In my preceding post (20 March 2014) Katharine Merow's poem tells of the new geometries
developed with variations of Euclid's Parallel Postulate.
Martin Dickinson's poem, on the other hand, tells of richness within Euclid's geometry.
Homage to Euclid by Martin Dickinson
What points are these,
visible to us, yet revealing something invisible—
invisible, yet real?
Labels:
apple,
circle,
Euclid,
infinity,
Innisfree,
lines,
Martin Dickinson,
math,
Nora School,
oblong,
parallelogram,
poetry,
points,
postulates,
rhomboid,
space,
sphere
Monday, November 12, 2012
Finding fault with a sphere . . .
On November 9 I had the pleasure (hosted by Irina Mitrea and Maria Lorenz) of talking ("Thirteen Ways that Math and Poetry Connect") with the Math Club at Temple University and, on November 5, I visited Marion Cohen's "Mathematics in Literature" class at Arcadia University. THANKS for these good times.
This
Fib
poem
says THANK-YOU
to all those students
from Arcadia and Temple
who participated in "math-poetry" with me --
who held forth with sonnets, pantoums,
squares, snowballs, and Fibs --
poetry
that rests
on
math.
My Temple host, Irina Mitrea, and I share something else besides being women who love mathematics -- the Romanian poet, Nichita Stanescu (1933-83), is a favorite for both of us. My October 23 posting ("On the Life of Ptolemy") offered one of Sean Cotter's recently published translations of poems by Stanescu and below I include more Stanescu-via-Cotter -- namely, two of the ten sections of "An Argument with Euclid." These stanzas illustrate Stanescu at his best -- irreverently using mathematical terminology and expressing articulate anger at seen and unseen powers of oppression.
This
Fib
poem
says THANK-YOU
to all those students
from Arcadia and Temple
who participated in "math-poetry" with me --
who held forth with sonnets, pantoums,
squares, snowballs, and Fibs --
poetry
that rests
on
math.
My Temple host, Irina Mitrea, and I share something else besides being women who love mathematics -- the Romanian poet, Nichita Stanescu (1933-83), is a favorite for both of us. My October 23 posting ("On the Life of Ptolemy") offered one of Sean Cotter's recently published translations of poems by Stanescu and below I include more Stanescu-via-Cotter -- namely, two of the ten sections of "An Argument with Euclid." These stanzas illustrate Stanescu at his best -- irreverently using mathematical terminology and expressing articulate anger at seen and unseen powers of oppression.
Labels:
Arcadia,
argument,
cube,
economy,
Euclid,
freedom,
Irina Mitrea,
Maria Lorenz,
Marion Cohen,
maximum,
minimum,
Nichita Stanescu,
poetry,
postulate,
Sean Cotter,
space,
sphere,
square,
Temple,
women
Monday, August 8, 2011
Can a mathematician see red?
Held late in July, this year's 2011 Bridges (Math-Arts) Conference in Coimbra, Portugal included a poetry reading for which I'd been invited to read but was, at the last minute, unable to attend. (See also 26 July 2011). Poets Sarah Glaz and Emily Grosholz each, however, read favorite selections from my work. Glaz read one of my square poems, "The Bear Cave" (see 19 June 2011) and Grosholz read the poem shown below, "Can a Mathematician See Red?"
Labels:
Bridges,
Coimbra,
Emily Grosholz,
F J Craveiro de Carvalho,
hollow,
inside,
JoAnne Growney,
mathematician,
outside,
poet,
points,
red,
Sarah Glaz,
sphere,
surface
Friday, December 31, 2010
The year ends -- and we go on . . .
Immortal Helix by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
HEREUNDER Jacob Schmidt who, man and bones,
Has been his hundred times around the sun.
HEREUNDER Jacob Schmidt who, man and bones,
Has been his hundred times around the sun.
Labels:
Archibald MacLeish,
helix,
inscribed,
mathematics,
poetry,
point,
sphere,
surface
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