How many numbers do you see?
That depends on how your mind is working today. Because this is a puzzle
and a challenge, most of us go into game mode, a bit of competition. I immediately saw the 10 traditional digits
in the decimal system and was so very proud of myself, thinking I aced it. But Sister Pat, my high school math teacher, also
saw numbers beyond the first ten, including 21, 24, 84, 6841, and so on. If you
visited your friend who lives at 62 Grove Street, you might have seen the 62
right away—and eliminating the 62, the 1 would have popped up for you.
Too many word
people consider themselves to mathephobes—dreading anything from math classes
to working the stock market. But numbers
are humanly meaningful in ways that illuminate the writing and reading of
poetry. As John Steinbeck wrote, "Poetry is the mathematics of writing, and closely kin to music."
A digression:
A digression:
Analytic psychologist
Carl Jung averred that the number four is universally symbolic of wholeness,
safety, home. The number four shows up
in such quaternities as north/south/east/west; up/down/left/right;
spring/summer/autumn/winter; hot/cold/moist/dry; water/fire/air/earth. The sun, source of life on earth, is
worshipped in most religions in the form of a circle. The cross is the division of the circle into
four quadrants. The swastika, an ancient
symbol of connection was based on the circle, and co-opted for evil purposes by
the Nazis. The Christian religion is
based on the quaternity of Father/Son/Holy Ghost/Satan. But, in an attempt to deny the
interconnectedness of all aspects of experience, Satan is erased. Carl Jung used the mandala, the universal
symbol of life for Buddhists and Hindus, as a healing circle.
In everyday life, the number four
appears in the four wheels of all but a few cars; the squaring off of walls; and
in expressions as “square deal,” “square meal,” “squaring a debt,” “square
shooter,” and “squared her shoulders.”
Using
the number “4” as our constant will help us to interpret—to create meaning—in
response to poetry. "Poetry by the Numbers" shows up in several
ways: (1) Syllabics—how many syllables are in a line; (2) Meter—what are the
stress patterns in a line; (3) Stanzaics—how many lines are in the stanzas; (4)
Length—how many lines and stanzas are in a poem. We will explore these in turn in following
blog posts.
For now, let’s think about what
numbers mean to you. Reply to one or
more of these questions:
What is your favorite number, and
why?
What numbers tend to show up in
your life? In what ways?
Respond to the expression: “Things
come in threes.” Name some threesomes in
your life, in literature, cultural experience, popular songs, et cetera.
Find a quote that includes the number “three.” Interpret
the quote by seeing the number 3 as the expression of something missing. What’s missing?
Works Cited:
Cover Art: https://themindsjournal.com/hidden-numbers/
