A recent email from Portuguese mathematician-poet F J "Francisco" Craveiro
de Carvalho brought a 40-year-old stanza to my attention. First published in the May, 1974 issue of POETRY Magazine, we have these enigmatic lines by William Virgil Davis. Enjoy!
The Science of Numbers: Or Poetry as Pure Mathematics
Whatever you add you add at your peril.
It is far better to subtract. In poetry,
Multiplication borders on madness.
Division is the mistress we agree to sleep with.
Showing posts with label subtract. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subtract. Show all posts
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Amounting to Something
From the Fall/Winter 2013 issue of Poet Lore, a poem by David Wagoner about the arithmetic of expectations:
Amounting to Something by David Wagoner
You were supposed to do that
by saving yourself up
like coins in a pig rescued
just in time sometimes
from in front of the candy counter
or the desk in the corridor
Amounting to Something by David Wagoner
You were supposed to do that
by saving yourself up
like coins in a pig rescued
just in time sometimes
from in front of the candy counter
or the desk in the corridor
Labels:
add,
amount,
calculation,
counting,
David Wagoner,
divide,
multiply,
questions,
subtract
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A poetic perspective on algebra
Last Monday (April 4), the Washington Post had an article concerning the value of Algebra II as a predictor of college and work success. Since then I have heard numerous successful people point out that they did not have the cited course. Also on April 4, NPR had a feature on the advantages of being bilingual. My own mind joined these two stories -- for me, algebra is a second language and has enabled my learning of lots of other things.
Colette Inez 's poem "Forest Children" uses the language of poetry to speak of algebra (and of her concern for shrinking woodlands).
Colette Inez 's poem "Forest Children" uses the language of poetry to speak of algebra (and of her concern for shrinking woodlands).
Monday, May 10, 2010
Margaret Cavendish (1623-73) -- The Circle of the Brain cannot be Squared
Margaret Cavendish (1623-73) was a writer who published under her own name at a time when most women published anonymously. Her writing addressed a number of topics, including gender equity and scientific method.
Labels:
arithmetic,
atom,
circle,
cube,
Euclid,
figure,
Margaret Cavendish,
mathematics,
number,
passion,
poetry,
point,
quantity,
quotient,
squaring the circle,
subtract,
triangle
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