Problem 4b: The Wondrous Tale of Math and Poetry

------------- Old high school friends, Math and Poetry, meet on the way to work -------------

M Long time, no see! How do you do?

P Thanks Math, I’m great! Are you great too?

M Oh Poetry, I’m bored. What shall we do?

P Let’s go on a road trip; Just me and you!

M But where shall we go, dear Poetry?

P There are plenty of things that we can see!

How about the Sequoia Redwood trees?

M So very exciting that would be!

I’ve hear they grow three hundred feet tall

How many leaves will they shed in the fall?

P Who cares, my friend; just admire their beauty

M I’ve heard their sap tastes very fruity.

But what about work, I’ve got important duties!

P C’mon dear Math, stop being so snooty.

Math, my friend, you could use a good break.

Your precious mental health is at stake!

M I’ve got responsibilities, for goodness sake!

Gosh, your logic gives me a headache!

P Vacation is good! You really need one.

Come on! I promise it’ll be so much fun.

I guarantee you won’t have regrets. None!

You’ll be all cheered up by the time we’re done.

M Alright, I’m convinced. Are you going to drive?

How many hours is it? Like five?

Ditching work! Wow, I feel so alive.

Maybe I am vacation-deprived!

P That’s the spirit! Hop in my SUV.

And no, the drive will only be about three.

M I already feel amazingly free!

Maybe some time off is good for me!

----------------------------------- In the evening after a long hike ----------------------------------

P So math, how are you liking the park?

We should light a fire; it’s really dark.

M We’d better control our campfire’s sparks.

Ridiculously dry, this tree’s bark!

P Good thinking, shall we go back to the car?

If you’d like I can play some guitar.

We can lie on the hood and gaze up at the stars.

M They are so far away; Who knows how far?

This is so intriguing, Poetry

Much more complex than Euclidean Geometry

P Your mind is wandering uncontrollably.

My mind functions better thinking globally.

M Poetry, please don’t overreact!

Try out thinking in the abstract.

P Compared to poetry, math is much more exact.

Perhaps I’m the abstract one in fact.

M I didn’t mean to place any blame

You and I are actually quite the same.

Both structured and abstract, I claim. 

There’s no need to feel any shame.

P My message is abstract; my meter organized.

M With concrete postulates my theory is subsidized.

And I always show steps when I generalize.

That way my rigor isn’t compromised.

P How similar we are! I was not aware!

M You and I make quite the pair!

P Our synergy is beginning to flare!

M To ours, no friendship can ever compare!

------------ Math and Poetry become BFFs and now go camping every weekend ------------

The End

Prob 4.a

Why a scientist must read poetry:

I looked at this topic in reference to writing in general last semester, and was able to discover a rich relationship between science and writing. Poetry is a symbolic, nuanced, and mysterious form of writing that aligns with many parts of science where the researchers act as detectives. Therefore, I am going to adapt my ideas about writing and reevaluate this connection:

Every particle in the universe has an effect on every other, no matter how small. Human experience is based upon the acknowledgement of the effects, both physical and emotional, through varying levels of abstraction. Life is about exploring and finding which interactions between things are important and investigating them further. Sensors and poetry both serve to amplify these relationships to the point that they are able to be observed by humans. Sensors help to demonstrate connections between physical or electrical events and are tied to a temporal relationship. Poetry works to identify and develop connections that are often deep in the emotional and abstract, but equally significant, dimensions of the world.. A scientist uses a sensor to glean things about the world, just as a poet learns as he/she composes. The feelings in one’s mind are often as scrambled as the sub-atomic particles that make up the mind itself that a researcher might study.

An example of a sensor is a simple sun position measuring tool that you may recognize from the north engineering quad.  The gnomon (shadow casting element) is the first part of the sensor, reaching into the sky as a spire. The movement of the distant--by relative scale--sun is amplified and visually represented on the ground below. The sun, millions of miles away, casts a discrete shadow, and markings beneath translate it to a language humans understand. Everything in the world casts a shadow, and writers and poets are those who are able to illuminate it.

Just like the sensor, this post connects two phenomena as it shows the critical relationship between seemingly discrete disciplines. It analytically identifies the effect of sensors and writing poetry on human understanding and amplifies the significance of both by making the all important connection, forming both physical and figurative neural pathways. A poet and a scientist are not so different, studying different planes of reality with much intersection. The effects and the connections often become convoluted through layer upon layer of interpretation and redefinition, but pulling a poem apart to reveal its underlying threads will always reveal sensorial qualities. As a poet works to transcribe the world onto paper, the scientist gathers data from a sensor. Like poems, every sensor, even the simplest of digital switches, tells a story.

Though I originally spent my time thinking about this concept with regards to essay writing, I actually like it more in conversation with poetry. The interpretive element of reading a poem is ridiculously similar to that of reading instruments. That is why a scientist should certainly read poetry, and go even further than just read. He/she has to work to fully come to an understanding of the poem (whether it was the intended one or not) because the critical thinking involved is crucial. I know that this thought experiment has encouraged ME to look closely at poems, and I hope some other future scientists can be inspired as well.

To my STEM-loving peers, do any o these concepts resonate with you? I’m curious to hear what you think.

Prob #3: Twixt D and F

The Po(e)m:

Not_s to S_lf

I thought it would be good for me

but I find:

No fr__dom, no lib_rty, no _quality.

I stand and say: hot dog!

with mustard

but no k_tchup? no r_lish?

I grow melancholy

despondent

somber

sad.

It is tasty but not

d_licious.

Synonyms for r_d?

-       crimson (too bloody)

-       burgundy (too musty)

-       fuchsia (too flashy)

-       maroon (cast-away?)

-       ruby (Wiz. of Oz?)

(not: carmin_; scarl_t; v_rmillion)

I could adopt most _xpl_tiv_s,

if I want to,

but I won’t.

I can say: thank you!

but not please.

I thought it would b_ good for m_

but I find:

I can, I

can swim and drown, but not liv_ and

breathe.

~~~

The Proce(ss):

Initially, I tried writing a poem without worrying about the letter “E” (a great letter, by the way), with the goal of going back to edit after the fact. But after I began to write, I couldn’t ignore the chief objective. I decided to face the vacancy head-on, rather than trying to avoid the letter altogether. I varied between leaving a __ in place of each “E” and writing the full word with a --- through it. The choice to do __ rather than --- ? Fairly arbitrary, but I favor each word with the --- (aka --- = crucial word). I’ve long known the importance of “E.” Endeavoring to omit it only proved that importance.

P.(S). Writing without u(s)ing the l(e)tter(s) (e) & (s) i(s) hard.

- (E)li(ss)a

Prob number two: Chanson D'automne

There are few things more pretentious than reciting a poem in French. Perhaps this is because for a long time French was considered a cultured way to speak and likewise verse was a more cultured way to write.  In any case, there's one French poem I think everyone should know: "Chanson D'automne" by Paul Verlaine.

Les sanglots longs

des violons

de l'automne

blessent mon coeur

D'une langueur

Monotone.

Tout suffocant

Et blême, quand

Sonne l'heure,

Je me souviens

Des jours anciens

Et je pleure;

Et je m'en vais

Au vent mauvais

Qui m'emporte

Deçà, delà,

Pareil à la

Feuille morte.

Translators have modified the poem slightly to fit an English rhyme scheme but in its original French I find the poem especially sad. Verlaine characterizes himself through a description of Fall. He paints the soundscape of the aching season with emptiness and despair, of time lost and wasted, and ultimately death. 

Though the poem was first published in 1866 it became especially significant in 1944, during the Nazi occupation of France. The French people were tired, restless, full of despair. They were also like dead leaves blowing from here to there in the wind. That's why Verlaine's poem was used as a symbol of unity for the Free French movement.

Under the Vichy government in France, Radio Londres broadcast BBC messages to the French resistance in code to inform them of the allies plans to liberate France. Twenty-four hours prior to D-Day Georges Bégué began his broadcast with a personal message:

Les sanglots longs/ Des violons/ De l'automne/ Blessent mon coeur/ D'une langueur/ Monotone.

The message alerted the French people that D-Day would begin and soon the people would be liberated from the "Monotonous Languor" in their lives.  Here is a video on youtube with the broadcast.

Poetry is important to History because it documents the human experience in familiar metaphors we can all find some universal truth in. Since languages are social constructs and only have meaning within a group of people who acknowledge those meanings, poetry continues to change shape and form from generation to generation. As we head into the future, we can use poetry to continue to communicate with one another so long as one is receptive enough to listen to what is behind the words.
~Ellen

Prob number one: A box

Hey everyone!

IDK if this will show up because I'm still super mystified by technology, but I'm Clara. I addressed this week's poetry problem, "this poem won't fit in this box, what do i do?"

I wrote a little zine for my response, with words and pictures by me spare two stock photos of boxes, lol. I chose images that felt like they were taken from inside of something -- images that felt closed in and trapped -- and one image that felt limitless; roaming, in a way. The pictures from the middle slide are all from Meramec caverns, a cave system in Missouri (they have an illuminated picture of Lassie one of the chambers, a cabin in another, it's a campy place). Besides that, I guess there's not a lot to say. Hope you enjoy! If you want to look at a physical copy of this just ask me and I can give you one or lend you one, no problem. I only have one right now though so be patient haha

:-)   - Clara