Poetry Friday - Edgar Allan Poe's Pie

 

I'm a sucker for math poetry, love parodies, and am a J. Patrick Lewis fangirl, so it should come as no surprise that the book I shared with all my teachers this summer was EDGAR ALLAN POE'S PIE: MATH PUZZLERS IN CLASSIC POEMS.

What's not to love about cleverly disguised math problems? Or rib-tickling parodies of classic poems?

Can you guess the classic that inspired this poem?

Once upon a midnight rotten,

Cold, and rainy, I'd forgotten

All about the apple pie

Still cooling from the hour before.

I ignored the frightful stranger

Knocking, knocking . . . I, sleepwalking,

Pitter-pattered toward the pantry,

Took a knife from the kitchen drawer,

And screamed aloud, "How many cuts

Give me ten pieces?" through the door,

          The stranger bellowed, "Never four!"

Go ahead, draw a circle and give it a try! The answer can be found upside-down on the opposing page. (Look it up or figure it out because I'm not telling!) Mathematically you could use four cuts, however, the pieces would not be equal in size.

Another poem takes the final lines of "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening" and replaces them with these words:

My tightie whities look so sad.

My tightie whities look so sad.

Yup, it's sacrilege of the best kind. Kids will have fun reading and solving these. Hopefully some smart teachers will share the originals with kids and maybe even have them try some mathematical parodies of their own.

Here's one more to whet your appetite. Yes, it contains fractions, but be brave!

Edward Lear's Elephant with Hot Dog

Inspired by "There Was An Old Man With a Beard" by Edward Lear 

When an elephant sat down to order

A half of a third of a quarter

     Of an eighty-foot bun

     And a frankfurter, son

Was it longer than three feet, or shorter?

The round up this week is being hosted by Doraine Bennett at Dori Reads. Do stop by and take in the terrific poetry being share. Happy poetry Friday!