Arithmetic Poem by Carl Sandburg
Arithmetic
Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your
head.
Arithmetic tell you how many you lose or win if you know how
many you had before you lost or won.
Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven -- or five
six bundle of sticks.
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand
to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.
Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and
you can look out of the window and see the blue sky -- or the
answer is wrong and you have to start all over and try again
and see how it comes out this time.
If you take a number and double it and double it again and then
double it a few more times, the number gets bigger and bigger
and goes higher and higher and only arithmetic can tell you
what the number is when you decide to quit doubling.
Arithmetic is where you have to multiply -- and you carry the
multiplication table in your head and hope you won't lose it.
If you have two animal crackers, one good and one bad, and you
eat one and a striped zebra with streaks all over him eats the
other, how many animal crackers will you have if somebody
offers you five six seven and you say No no no and you say
Nay nay nay and you say Nix nix nix?
If you ask your mother for one fried 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?
Awesome poem, I always hated anything to do with arithmetic but i have seen them in different light.
Hi Marj, This is especially an answer to the wish of Marj. This poem is filled with American anachronisms. Various events which are recognized as happenings or feelings someone has or experiences. I am not a literary buff however I feel the member Daniel Brick would be better to ask. He is highly versed and has a wonderful manner of expressing his explanations and is simply better qualified than myself. Greetings, Paul
Someone please help me with the line by line explanation of this poem
Funny and interesting calculation of arithmetic....good poem indeed- 10
An excellent poem to learn children how to count and add. A playfull poem to learn unknowingly especialy for kids who must still learn to count.5 Stars!
Arithmetic with fun and puzzle---a nice way to raise curiosity among children.A great poem.
This poem is awesome, using it for my 5th grade speech meet. Way to go Sandburg, Carl
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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12/7/2024 3:38:07 PM # 1.0.0
there is alot you can get out of this poem... appreciation for math and just how it works in our daily lives, but not only that, at the end the poet (Carl Sandburg) added a little joke in the poem for good measure :) ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !