On Benjamin Peret's Poem "26 Points To Specify"

This poem is built around an equation, or rather, a series of equations. When I began reading the poem, I thought, "I got this. I'm good at math and english - I can analyze this into sense." So I went on reading, and did just that.
Ok, so your life ends at a. If you are b-a, then that is life to death. Simple. If you are cb-a, then you are asking for more. You want something from life. c. Religious holidays divide your days. You lose the present in preparing for the future.

But as the list grew, the mathematical placements grew arbitrary, in my mind. Why are the cards placed in your pocket an exponent? Why is your ability to hear a division, your ability to clap an addition, and why in their specific placement in the growing equation?

I began to lose myself in the letters. The letters lost meaning because there were so many of them. Trying to interpret the equations as metaphors felt like a hopeless attempt to decode something meaningless. The complications became so immense that the whole equation lost meaning. How did we get from simply cb-a to god knows what the last equation would come out to be if Peret were to continue?

But through my confusion and frustration, I think I saw the point of the poem. Or at least I see it now in retrospect. Life grows complicated and what once seemed simple becomes muddled by details. Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing has meaning. Unless if it does; it's hard to be sure.

Week 7 Post

The poem "Bowl of Spaghetti" is really interesting, especially from a scientific standpoint. The spaghetti does in fact remind you of the structure of a brain and how intertwined it is which makes it difficult to analyze. The only way to comprehend and study it is to take it apart piece by piece, which is just as challenging as unraveling a bowl of spaghetti. The lines that really stand out to me are "as Mother instructed and I’ll never forget since some strand determines infatuation as a daughter’s fate."  In the brain, there are some parts that have the potential to dictate life and death, while others are far less important. The problem that presents itself is you may not necessarily know which is what on the surface level. I think the clause stating "some strand determines infatuation" speaks to that point. 

Due to the discussions we had in class, I am now looking forward to experiencing science in poetry. It may be very similar  to the positive experience we had with magic. Science though, may allow us to more easily duplicate it. 

Week 7 blog post

Shepherd establishes credibility in the poem, Dust, through his incorporation of scientific knowledge. Shepherd incorporates this knowledge intermittently throughout the poem through his use of strings of words that compile dust. While some of these items are common and can therefore be easily found, many of the items are ones that cannot be seen, like Nitrogen for example. Shepherd use of scientific knowledge is helpful to the reader because it allows them to think outside of their usual realm. For example, although I am aware of dusts existence, I would not say that I think about what compiles it. This poem allowed me to consider how everything we use in our daily life is represented in the dust particles that float in the air around us.

Week 7: Manipulating Variables

As someone with years of rigorous mathematical training in computation and proof, I liked the idea of building a poem around an equation. Yet, 26 Points to Specify didn't use the equation in as meaningful a manner as I expected. The vague idea of each element adding constraints to an equation makes sense in describing a character in words and numbers. Yet the constraints themselves didn't match the words as well as I expected them to. The behaviors of mathematical operations would have lent themselves nicely to add meaning to the words that came before each.
There were a few that sort of made sense though. When I consider the religious holidays, "I ask for" is moved into the denominator and this religious aspect is placed in the numerator. But there were others that seemed to just be for show, such as They have pulled out and the corresponding addition of a constant k. The date of my birth dividing "My fortune" by x...
I like this concept. There is a lot of information one could draw from closely examining each additional variable, which does make the poem intriguing. My main issue with the way it was carried out is that the math seems to have been taken for granted by the poet. That idea itself adds an even more interesting dimension, so maybe it was intentional.

-Hannah

Math

After reading 26 points to specify, I have found my new favorite poem ever. When I first saw all the math symbols on the poem I was enticed to read it, yet after reading it and trying to figure out what each variable was. I really liked the use of mathematics because I feel I understand the language of mathematics more than english, and the best part of this poem in my opinion is that it didn't make as much sense. I tried to devise the formula as I went along because of my passion for the world of math. I feel that everything in life involves math and probability. Every step in life involves a certain percentage of a result of an experience. I feel that this poem emulates this.

Week 7: Science as Metaphor

I enjoyed the point Padel brought up that "a new metaphor is a new mapping of the world." We spoke earlier in the semester about the connections poetry makes in order for us to understand these abstract feelings and possibilities. What Padel wrote struck me just the same, how scientists have to make their own metaphors to allow us to understand new discoveries and to gain a better understanding of the universe. I'm not sold yet that "science and poetry fertilize each other." I don't see the overarching link between science and poetry. Both focus on the details of the world, things that people do not notice. I don't necessarily agree that vague poetry is bad poetry. Its is like saying abstract art is not art. Sure, many people do not quite understand abstract art, but it is still considered art.

I enjoyed in Kimiko Hahn's poem "A Bowl of Spaghetti" her connection between connectomes in the brain and spaghetti. If you didn't understand the neurons in your brain, it could be better explained like spaghetti; messy, intricate, intertwing, and fragile.

The Theory of Everything

Before I read the poems, I went on saw The Theory of Everything, a story about Stephen Hawking's family. It was in my mind as I read "The Science of Poetry, the Poetry of Science". The themes of the movie fit so beautifully together in my mind; there was Stephen's study of physics and the science behind his deteriorating motor function, but also the emotions that came along with his medical condition, as well as human beauty.

The beginning argument discussing science vs. poetry reminded me of Callois and Breton's argument we read earlier. I disagree full-heartedly with Keats and Edgar Allen Poe that "Science was out to dissolve beauty". Science IS beauty. Everything there is to write about has a science behind it and so it is to the credit of science that poetry exists. (I would like to mention that this is why I have such trouble picking something to study; everything is so interconnected.)

I see everything as interconnected. Poetry is magic is science is poetry is science is magic. I believe everything to be relative. This may present a problem when trying to isolate the elements of science in the second half of the semester, just as it may have hindered me in the first half. What I will try to focus on then, is not what I categorize as science, but whys. Why is it there; why does it work? Why could everything be classified as everything else?