The Number Pi



The Number Pi, by Wislawa Szymborska, was a fairly interesting poem. Szymborska uses free verse, a form that has no regular rhyme or rhythm pattern. If you don’t know what Pi (p) is, it is a number that has more than 16 million digits that starts with 3.14. Szymborska uses imagery to give us the idea how big Pi is. You might consider Pi as any other number, but after reading Szymborska’s poem, you will have a different perspective towards it.


Reading the poem, we can assume the speaker is the poet, Wislawa Szymborska. Another reason that makes the narrator the poet is that the poem is being told in a narrative way. There isn’t dialogue or characters; thus, the speaker is the poet, Wislawa Szymborska. It is easier to understand the poem if it is narrative instead of having several characters.


After reading the poem several times, I came to the conclusion, Wislawa Szymborska had too much time in her hands when she was writing this poem. I got the idea she is a very lonely person because most poets express themselves through poetry. Szymborska decided not to write about her personal feelings, but her feelings towards math in her poem. Who would write about math? The Number Pi is a good poem that has good imagery, but in order to accomplish this you must have needed to spend a lot of time on it.


After reading the poem, the poem doesn’t have a specific audience. It is just about someone’s love towards math. Since someone who is into math wrote it, other people who are into math will enjoy. People who are into math tend to be lonely. Szymborska’s audiences are mathematical and scientific people.


What I figured out is Szymborska purpose for the poem was to persuade the reader how “great” Pi is. Within the poem, Szymborska uses imagery to grab the reader’s attention. She did well because she was able to grab my attention with her imagery. Her imagery makes sense and is clear. Szymborska expresses how big Pi can be and to what extent it can be.


The style of The Number Pi is free verse. The poem doesn’t have a regular rhyme or rhythm. Since the poem doesn’t rhyme or has a poetic meter, it is a free verse poem. Szymborska intent for the poem was for it to be narrative than a poem that has rhythm. Her goal was to change the reader’s perspective towards Pi. Having it rhyme or making it more troublesome for the reader wouldn’t accomplish her goal. Thus, this was her purpose in writing her poem in a free verse style. Szymborska really put some thought into this poem.


Imagery is used greatly in The Number Pie. For example, “It can continue across the table, through the air, through a wall, a leaf, a bird’s nest, clouds straight into the sky.” From this phrase, I was able to picture a long line of numbers moving from the text from the textbook and they were heading through the air, a tree, the sky, and into outer space. Reading the poem over again, it got me thinking, what else goes on for eternity like Pi? No one can live forever, Earth, nor the sun can exist forever. Yet again, even though the first 1 trillion digits of Pi are available, there may be an end to Pi. There might be computers in the near future that will be able to get to the end of Pi. Thus, time will only tell.


The choice of words Wislawa Szymborska used on the poem made the poem sound smooth and peaceful. “In which is said my nightingale go fly, sing, and please keep calm.” Since Szymborska didn’t express her feelings in the poem, with hate or love, the poem came out to be relaxing. Since there wasn’t any positive or negative expression within the poem, it was soothing. Reading a soothing poem, it can change the aspect of the poem.


Overall, I found Wislawa Szymborska to be very lonely at the time she was writing The Number Pi. Even though it is a good poem, who writes about math? She must have had a lot of time when she was writing the poem. I interpreted the theme of this piece of work, as there is still hope or chance. I still believe Szymorska was depressed when writing the poem, yet she wrote how something goes on forever. Throughout the poem, she wrote how “great” Pi is. Pi is this long, Pi is this, Pi is etc. She repeatedly was saying “It’s not over yet, there’s still more” (note: she wasn’t really saying this phrase, I am only using it as an example).


In conclusion, I found The Number Pi, by Wislawa Szymborska, to be fairly interesting. I have always considered Pi to be any other number, but after reading this poem, it has changed my perspective towards Pi. I no longer see Pi as any other number, but as a symbol that represents something that lives/lasts forever. A very simple thing, like Pi or anything else, can become great depending on how you use it. Wislawa Szymborska has shown us an example. In the end, I found the poem to be really interesting.