The Programmer as Poet
Year: 2006 Authors: Russell Jay Hendel
Core claim
Poetic metaphor and computer polymorphism share a common structure of abstract concepts instantiated across domains.
Topics
poetry and computing, metaphor, polymorphism, computer pedagogy, classification
Domains
classification, symmetry analysis, poetry, literary analysis, metaphor
Methods
comparative analysis, analogical reasoning, conceptual classification
Media
English poetry, Old Testament text, computer programming examples
Paper text
The text below is the locally extracted OCR/Markdown version of the paper. Raw PDF files remain local and are not published here.
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The Programmer as Poet
Russell Jay Hendel Department of Mathematics, Towson University Towson, MD, 21252, USA E-mail: RHendel@Towson.edu
Abstract
In Tennyson’s Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, the poet requests from his lover, “…slip into my bosom and be lost in me.” This theme is poetically developed by seeking an oneness with nature: The poet reviews many natural events which have a cycle of energetic wakefulness followed by a state of relative rest. A similar method of poetic development, by analogy with several other domains, occurs in other poetic passages: for example, Job wishes death by metaphorically seeking that his day of birth be lost, stained, unlit, not allowed to come to the calendar,… Computer scientists will immediately recognize this technique of poetic development as resembling polymorphism, which allows the naming of an abstract concept by its instantiation in one particular domain. This paper explores use of computer concepts to classify poetic technique; it also advocates enriching computer science curriculum with the teaching of poetic technique.
1. Goals
1.1. Overview. We first summarize 2 poems from different periods, with distinct styles, authors and topics. Our exploration of a common structure in these 2 poems naturally uses modern computer concepts. This suggests a computer-poetry classification project from which both disciplines can benefit.
1.2. Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal [1] [2]. The climax of Tennyson’s poem, Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal is a request for the lover, after consummation, to slip into the poet’s bosom: So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip into my bosom and be lost in me. This theme is poetically developed by seeking an oneness with nature. The poet reviews many natural processes that similarly start in a more energetic state followed by a more restful state: (a) a meteor coming to rest, (b) day turning to night, (c) lilies nightly folding into a lake, etc.
1.3. The Death Wish, (Job, Old Testament, 3:3-11). In the dramatic opening passages of the poetic section of the book of Job, the poet wishes death: Why did I not die from the womb? Why did I not perish when I came out of the belly? This death wish is poetically developed by applying a variety of non-existence concepts from other domains to the date of birth of the poet. Examples of requested non-existence in the poem include (a) losing the date of birth, (b) staining it, (c) not letting it come to the calendar, (d) darkening it, etc.
1.4. Polymorphism. To define the commonality of poetic technique in the above passages we briefly review the computer concept of polymorphism [3]. A standard example is illustrated with a class, OrchestraInstruments. Suppose the only instrument you know is the Violin, which extends the parent class OrchestraInstrument. You know that violins are fiddled but at the time of writing the program you don’t know the names of any other OrchestraInstruments or how they are played. Proper programming technique would write an OrchestraInstrument method, fiddle(). Then, every particular instrument could inherit this method but adapt its definition to that particular instrument. Thus, the program would speak about flute.fiddle(), drum.fiddle() etc. The word fiddle now represents the abstract concept of playing an instrument. The programmer finds useful the indefiniteness of the fiddle method since it can be defined in
each new situation as needed [3]. Thus, the programmer has used metaphoric technique to write a program. Modern compilers can compile such a program even though at the time the program is written no knowledge is possessed of other instruments and other playing methods. Computer theory calls this polymorphism. Polymorphism enables us to articulate the commonality in the Tennyson and Job passages both of which poetically develop a single theme by polymorphically / metaphorically using similar concepts in other domains.
1.5. The Symmetry Classification Project. [4] describes a joint classification project by anthropologists and group theorists in which the group of symmetries of the patterns in the clothing, pottery and blankets of several distinct cultures and tribes were analyzed. The resulting analysis surprisingly uncovered mathematical categorizations of symmetries of different cultures. Based on the analysis presented in the preceding sections, we would suggest a similar project between poets and computer scientists: that is, advanced computer science concepts could be used to provide classifications of the types of poetic development employed in the poems of different poets or of different periods. This computer-poetry classification project could uncover mathematical categorizations of poetic development useful to poets.
1.6. Poetry vs. Mechanism. In this subsection we discuss the paradox that computer science with its classical emphasis on objectivity, precision and mechanism should be useful to poetry with its romantic emphasis on feeling and freedom from precise laws [5]. A possible resolution to this paradox was presented in section 1.4. There we showed how computer science, within its own mechanistic borders, now sees a need for concepts of an indefinite nature. To the poet metaphors create a “mood of musical like indefiniteness”[5]; to the programmer concepts that are indefinite are useful. It follows that the traditional classical-romantic distinction must be reexamined. Neurological studies have similarly uncovered a need for intelligence tests of higher order rationality not covered in standard intelligence tests[6].
1.7. Computer Pedagogy Enrichment. The preceding subsections dealt with computer theory aiding the poet. But the converse approach should also be fruitful. If computer programs are now using poetic concepts then perhaps knowledge of basic poetic technique will enhance the performance of the programmer. Anecdotally, all computer science instructors know that a basic pedagogic problem in introductory courses is an over-emphasis on mechanism, objectivity and correctness. It is equally important to emphasize overall structure and use of analogy. A re-examination of the computer curriculum with an emphasis on the poetic, would therefore be welcome.
References
[1] Helen Gardner, ed., The New Oxford Book of English Verse, Oxford: Oxford UP, pg. 648. 1972 [2] Gerald J. Steen, Identifying Metaphor in Language: A Cognitive Approach, Style, Vol. 36.3, pp. 386-407. 2002. [3] Bruce Eckel, Thinking in Java, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall, 2003. [4] D. K. Washburn and D. W. Crowe, Symmetries of Culture: Theory and Practice of Plane Pattern Analysis, Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1988. [5] Edmund Wilson, Axel’s Castle, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pp. 1-25. 1959. [6] Antonio R. Damasio, Descartes’ Error, N.Y.: Grosset / Putnam Book, 1994.
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