In the third paragraph of the Wikipedia bio for Marguerite Duras (1914-1996), we read "At 17, Marguerite went to France, her parents' native country, where she began studying for a degree in mathematics." I had the opportunity, several weeks ago at AFI Silver, to enjoy a screening of an exquisite restoration of "Hiroshima Mon Amour," a 1959 film for which Duras wrote the screenplay (nominated for an academy award).
At the website goodreads.com I found this mathy (and poetic) quote that I recognized as from the film:
Showing posts sorted by date for query opportunity. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query opportunity. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
A math prof's lament
The mathematical connection for this poem is the fact that it was inspired by regrets for a missed opportunity in a mathematics class -- an opportunity missed by me and thus by one of my students. There are so many ways to be wrong!
Lament of a Professor
at the End of the Spring Semester by JoAnne Growney
I took an extra step to bridge the gap
between us, blind to your matching backward step.
We've moved in tandem until I'm angry
at you, and at me — I thought you needed
lenience, but reprimands instead
would have changed the direction of our cadence
and given you a chance to lead the dance.
A poem about another of my students, "The Prince of Algebra" is available here. And this link will take you to the poems in my collection, My Dance is Mathematics (Paper Kite Press, 2006).
Lament of a Professor
at the End of the Spring Semester by JoAnne Growney
I took an extra step to bridge the gap
between us, blind to your matching backward step.
We've moved in tandem until I'm angry
at you, and at me — I thought you needed
lenience, but reprimands instead
would have changed the direction of our cadence
and given you a chance to lead the dance.
A poem about another of my students, "The Prince of Algebra" is available here. And this link will take you to the poems in my collection, My Dance is Mathematics (Paper Kite Press, 2006).
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Split This Rock 2014 was great!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Emily Dickinson
Although I do not consider any of Emily Dickinson's poems "mathematical," I find that she does not shy from using the terminology of mathematics. For example, her repetition of the word "circumference" noted in an earlier posting. (To search this blog for mentions of Dickinson (1830 - 1886) or any other poet or topic, follow the instructions offered in green in the column to the right.)
Dickinson is on my mind these recent days following my opportunity last Saturday evening to attend a session of a conference held by the Emily Dickinson International Society. A gracious invitation by Martha Nell Smith enabled me to attend a program that featured two long-time friends, actor Laurie McCants of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, performing a scene from her one-woman show, Industrious Angels, and Stephanie Strickland, a New York poet who, along with collaborator Nick Montfort, offered background and performance for Sea and Spar Between, a poetry generator that works with language patterns for these two writers.
Dickinson is on my mind these recent days following my opportunity last Saturday evening to attend a session of a conference held by the Emily Dickinson International Society. A gracious invitation by Martha Nell Smith enabled me to attend a program that featured two long-time friends, actor Laurie McCants of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, performing a scene from her one-woman show, Industrious Angels, and Stephanie Strickland, a New York poet who, along with collaborator Nick Montfort, offered background and performance for Sea and Spar Between, a poetry generator that works with language patterns for these two writers.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Number personalities
In his collection, Zero, Scottish poet Brian McCabe raises questions about numerical classifications. He begins "The Fifth Season" with "Everyone talks of the four / -- none speak of the fifth." Another poem, "The Seventh Sense, " moves from a similar beginning " . . . none speak of the seventh" into a dreamy apprehension of the magical possibilities of items not yet classified. The following selection from Zero, "Triskaidekaphobia," offers remedies for the fear of bad luck brought by 13.
Labels:
Brian McCabe,
five senses,
four seasons,
luck,
number,
poem,
thirteen,
triskaidekaphobia,
zero
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Related rates -- in fiction and poetry
During the Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to read Black Rice (WSI, 2013), a novella by Burmese-American poet, artist, activist -- and friend -- Kyi May Kaung; I strongly recommend this book to you. (My 5-star review of Kaung's book is available here at amazon.com -- follow the link and scroll down.)
Here, in this blog, we mention topics if and only if they relate to both mathematics and poetry. Read on and you will see!
Midway through Black Rice, the narrator (speaking of an overflowing stream) reveals a negative attitude toward mathematics -- a strategy often used to provoke readers to experience empathy: "Ahhh, just like me." Here are the Burmese soldier's words:
Here, in this blog, we mention topics if and only if they relate to both mathematics and poetry. Read on and you will see!
Midway through Black Rice, the narrator (speaking of an overflowing stream) reveals a negative attitude toward mathematics -- a strategy often used to provoke readers to experience empathy: "Ahhh, just like me." Here are the Burmese soldier's words:
Labels:
Black Rice,
Burma,
calculation,
calculus,
David Wagoner,
hypotenuse,
Kyi May Kaung,
mathematics,
related rates
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Celebrate 3.14 with poems of Pi
Soon this year's version of the date 3.14 will arrive. Pi-day!
At the 2012 Bridges Conference in Towson MD I had the opportunity to hear "Art of π," a presentation by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya that told of ways that the special number π has inspired artists and writers. This blog has previously celebrated π -- for example on 6 September 2010 (featuring work by Kate Bush, Robert Morgan and Wislawa Szymborska), 10 September 2010 (mnemonics for π, especially from Mike Keith) , 15 March, 2011,(a poem by Lana Hechtman Ayers) 27 November 2011 (a poem by Brian McCabe).
At the 2012 Bridges Conference in Towson MD I had the opportunity to hear "Art of π," a presentation by Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya that told of ways that the special number π has inspired artists and writers. This blog has previously celebrated π -- for example on 6 September 2010 (featuring work by Kate Bush, Robert Morgan and Wislawa Szymborska), 10 September 2010 (mnemonics for π, especially from Mike Keith) , 15 March, 2011,(a poem by Lana Hechtman Ayers) 27 November 2011 (a poem by Brian McCabe).
Labels:
3.14,
Bridges Conference,
Mike Keith,
mnemonic,
Peter Meinke,
pi,
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya
Friday, June 8, 2012
Computer code -- is poetry?
Dubliner Eavan Boland is a master poet (and one of my favorites); Ireland shares her with the creative writing program at Stanford University. In Against Love Poetry (Norton, 2001), we find Boland's tribute to the also-amazing master of language, Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1988).
Code by Eavan Boland
Code by Eavan Boland
An Ode to Grace Murray Hopper 1906-88
maker of a computer compiler and verifier of COBOL
Poet to poet. I imagine you
at the edge of language, at the start of summer
in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, writing code.
You have no sense of time. No sense of minutes even.
They cannot reach inside your world,
your gray work station
with when yet now never and once.
You have missed the other seven.
This is the eight day of Creation.
Labels:
Bloomsburg University,
COBOL,
code,
compiler,
computer,
Eavan Boland,
Grace Murray Hopper,
language,
mathematician,
mathematics,
poem,
zero
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Illness and Time -- Counting on
One of life's special opportunities came to me ten years ago in Bucharest when I had the opportunity to meet poet Ileana Mălăncioiu and, along with my co-translator Doru Radu, enjoy a afternoon beer with her in a sunny cafe and talk of the opportunity of translating her collection Sora mea de dincolo / My Sister Beyond. These fifty-four poems were written in response to the illness and eventual death of Mălăncioiu's sister; the bilingual collection with our translations came out in 2003 (Paralela 45). During the past year I have faced the critical illness of a family member and have, during this time, found Mălăncioiu's poems especially relevant.
With university studies in philosophy (PhD) and experiences as journalist and editor, Mălăncioiu is a thoughtful observer who offers new best ways of seeing what is at hand. Here is her "Forty Days."
Labels:
Doru Radu,
forty,
Ileana Malancioiu,
philosophy,
poem,
Romania,
translation
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Is your favorite poet a mathematician?
The Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston last week gave a fine opportunity for me to connect with both mathematicians and poets, old friends and new ones. And to enjoy a celebration of the connections between poetry and mathematics. In the January 6 poetry reading sponsored by the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, there was much fine poetry. Several of the poems were by Carol Dorf -- whose work was read by Elizabeth Langosy, executive editor of the online literary magazine, TalkingWriting. Good reads in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of TalkingWriting include both Dorf's introduction to some featured math-connected poems -- entitled "Why Poets Sometimes Think in Numbers" -- and Langosy's impressions of the math-poetry reading.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Poetry with Mathematics -- Anthologies
More than thirty years ago at a mathematics conference book exhibit I stumbled upon Against Infinity: An Anthology of Contemporary Mathematical Poetry, edited by Ernest Robson and Jet Wimp. This collection, now out of print, became a resource for my mathematics courses--an opportunity for students to see the links between mathematics and the surrounding world. One of my early loves was "Arithmetic Lesson: Infinity" by Linda Pastan. Found also in Carnival Evening, the poem opens with these these lines:
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Poems starring mathematicians - 5
In my own library this next poem is found (untitled) in Collected Sonnets by Edna St Vincent Millay (1892-1950), but it also is found online at various sites. The first line of the sonnet, which announces Euclid as its subject, is well-known to most mathematicians; enjoy here all fourteeen lines.
Labels:
beauty,
David St John,
Edna St. Vincent Millay,
equation,
Euclid,
mathematics,
number,
poetry
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)