Here in Illinois, children and youth are
headed back to school after their summer vacations. Back to readin’ 'n writin’ 'n ‘rithmetic, as the old ditty put it. For high school or college students, it is back
to history, literature, science, social studies, algebra, calculus. . . .
I don’t often think of arithmetic or
mathematics and poetry at the same time, but Victorian poet, Robert Fuller Murray (1863–1894), did. His persona poem is in the voice
of a woman in the University of St. Andrews, L.L.A. The L.L.A. was a special certification
provided for women, Lady Literate in Arts, before women were admitted to University
degree programs in Scotland. At first the poem seems to suggest that Vivien is rather careless in her study or use of algebra (maybe a typical suspicion of men at that time?). But wait! The last stanza shows us that she is serious about it after all!
Vivien's Song
At the L.L.A. Examination
In Algebra, if Algebra be ours,
x and x^2 can ne'er be equal powers,
Unless x=1, or none at all.
It is the little error in the sum,
That by and by will make the answer come
To something queer, or else not come at all.
The little error in the easy sum,
The little slit across the kettle-drum,
That makes the instrument not play at all.
It is not worth correcting: let it go:
But shall I? Answer, Prudence, answer, no.
And bid me do it right or not at all.
~ Robert Fuller Murray
This poem is in the public domain.
Linda Wallin, an Illinois poet, teacher and
specialist in education for the gifted, wrote this poem:
In Praise of Math
Praise
the vigesimal Mayan numerals, used for thousands of years by their complex
civilization.
Praise
binary code, which created out of nothing a vast system of communication, an
industry of chips and processors, and a social movement to include everyone.
Praise
honey bees, who wax together hexagons in rhombic sections to store honey, and
dance the location of nectar, water and pollen.
Praise
Pythagoras, who discovered the relationship of ratios between notes and the
vibrations of strings, and the parabola focus of directed sound waves.
Praise
x- and y-intercepts that show us the increase or decrease in a child’s reading
fluency or emigration from a war zone.
Praise
Alan Turing, whose Bome helped break the Enigma codes of the Nazis.
Praise
farmers, who calculate ratios of soy to corn in feed and percentage of moisture
in crops still in the field, as well as estimating quantities of seed to plant.
Praise
elliptic geometry, where pseudosphere parallel lines intersect.
Praise
algorithms that control traffic flow, track our spending and analyze it, and
recognize damaging weather conditions.
Praise
symmetry of butterflies, Fibonacci sequence of sunflowers and fractals of a
snowflake.
Praise
acoustic ceiling tiles with many holes for giving children something to count
during unchallenging math lessons.
~ Linda Wallin
You can find other
math poems on the Internet, including these:
The September Challenge:
The September Challenge is to submit a poem inspired by arithmetic
or mathematics. You may use the vocabulary of math metaphorically. Your poem could, like Murray's, be about the student studying math. Alternately, Linda Wallin's poem could be your prompt; she shows us some of the breadth of the influence of mathematics. Your poem may be humorous or serious.
Your piece may be free verse or formal. If you use a form,
please identify the form when you submit your poem.
Title your poem unless it is a form that does not use
titles. Single-space and don’t use lines that are overly long (because the blog
format doesn’t accommodate long lines). Read previous poems on the blog to see
what line lengths can be accommodated.
You may submit a published poem if you retain copyright, but please include publication data. This
applies to poems published in books, journals, newspapers, or on the Internet.
The deadline is September 15. Poems
submitted after the deadline will not be considered. There is no charge to
enter, so there are no monetary rewards; however winners are published on this
blog. Please don’t stray too far from “family-friendly” language (some children
read this blog). No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know by the
end of the month whether or not your poem will be published on this blog.
Decision of the judge or judges is final.
The poet retains copyright on each poem. If a previously
unpublished poem wins and is published elsewhere later, please give credit to
this blog. I do not register copyright with the US copyright office, but by US
law, the copyright belongs to the writer unless the writer assigns it to
someone else.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send one poem only to
wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for
“dot”). Put “September Poetry Challenge
Submission” in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a
winner this month. Please put your name
and bio UNDER the poem in your email.
Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be
posted on the blog if it is a winner, so be sure that you put your name
(exactly as you would like it to appear if you do win) at the end of the poem.
Poems may be pasted into an email or sent as an attachment
(no pdf files, please). Please do not
indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if you submit the poem in the format used on the blog
(Title and poem left-justified; title in bold (not all in capital letters);
your name at the bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces
instead of commas in the middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using
that technique (I sometimes do it myself). However I have difficulty getting
the blog to accept and maintain extra spaces.
Poems shorter than 40 lines are generally preferred but
longer poems will be considered.
© Wilda Morris
