Arithmetic
Dear marvelously, wonderpipical* students,
I love that Walls Within Walls is jammed full of poems. One of them, “Arithmetic,” by Carl Sandberg is part of your homework assignment this week. It is overflowing with similes and metaphors. Most interesting to me is that Sandberg seems to be “personifying” arithmetic itself, turning it into a person who bosses us around. My favorite stanza from the poem is the 8th one, which sounds like a math problem that Cory would write for us. The last line is pretty fabulous too, “If you ask your mother for one friend egg for breakfast and she gives you two fried eggs and you eat both of them, who is better in arithmetic, you or your mother.” It’s hard to read that line and not smile.
I want to hear your response to the poem. Be specific. Choose a stanza from the poem and describe what you like (or don’t like) about it. Use our literary terms like “personification,” “metaphor,” and “simile.” Describe why you think this poem might be included in the book at all. I can’t wait to hear your answers.!
Love, Mrs. W.
*That’s a word from a Children of the Lamp book.
Filed under | Comments (16)
First of all my family had some water damage in our pool table room and we had to rip off the wallpaper and guess what we found! We found an old bricked up chimney concealed for years! it reminded my mom and i about walls within walls.
My favorite paragraph is the first one. It is a simile. It says that arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head. This poem is said because it has all the right letters that they need and since they love poetry why not use a poem?
Mrs. W,
My favorite stanza is the fifth because It’s fun doubling numbers. But I wonder, does it mean this: 2+2+2+2… or this: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64… I also wonder what the highest number would be on your calculator would be before you ran out of room. That problem is probably fun and boring.
Walker
I’m home alone!
Sammie,
That is SO COOL that you can relate to Walls Withen Walls! Are you going to use the fireplace?
You’re right. The first stanza is a similie. It’s not my favorite, but it’s still pretty good. I think some of the pigeons stay in your head when you’ve memorized them.
Walker
My favorite stanza is “Arithmetic tells you how many times you lose or win if you know how many you had before you lost or won” . This poem meant that if you play a game and you lose or win you can use arithmetic to tell how many you lost and how many you won. I also loved the first line. It had a wonderful simile about the numbers fly like pigeons.
I think it might be in this book because it has many codes and poems (especially on the walls).
I agree with Walker it is cool that you found a new chimney.Did it have a grille ?
My favorite stanza is the first one. When it says that arithmetic is numbers that fly about like pigeons in your head. It was a very great similie. It is very true because whenever I do an equation, all of these numbers fly about in my head. I love how he described it as pigeons because pigeons are very fast.
I think that they will find this poem in the book of poems or in another chimney. I think this because they have found all sorts of stuff in chimneys before so why not have another clue in one now
I agree with you Sammie. The first stanza was an amazing similie. About how the numbers are like pigeons that fly about in your head. I thought that really made sense because lots of numbers fly in my head when I am doing an equation
I love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how walls within walls has a lout of poems, but eight year old kids also read this book and they wouldn’t under stand the poems in walls witin walls.
My favorite stanza was the last one. The end of it is a question.”Who is better in arithmetic you or your mother. It depends because if you enjoy them both that means you mother. But if you did not want to eat two eggs but your mother made you that means you are better and your mom is mean
sammie I think it is sad and a cowinsidence that you related to Walls Within Walls. It is sad because you had a water damage but is cool because you could relate to Walls Within Walls.
Cory-
I forgot what I was gonna say… Wait I’ve got it… lost it again.
Oh yes My favorite line was the last line because it was the end… just kidding it’s because I’m always better a arithmatic… yeah…
I coundn’t agree more sam because thats what i said
My face right now= >:D
In the poem “Arithmetic” my favorite line is “Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven”. I really like this part because it rhythms and I think that is used a great use of rhyming words. I also like it because that was the first thing that caught my attention and I think it is really neat.
I think they use poems because that is a great way to learn and be interested at the same time. I also think they used this poem because they used a lot of New York related poems and they all lead to something so maybe this is another poem that leads to another clue.
Sam I totally agree I am a better arithmetic than my mom. Even though she was a collage math teacher she remembers half of the stuff we do now. So That proves that I am a better arithmetic than my mom.
Where is the new blog?