Arithmetical Love

The Square Root of Three

David Feinberg

I fear that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

Has quietly come waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

 

Arithmetical Love

An Analysis of David Feinberg’s The Square Root of Three

 

The Square Root of Three is a poem written by David Feinsberg. This poem is called lyrical poem since this work is a form of poem that expresses personal and emotional feeling of the narrator. Basically, all poem should be analyzed using objective and subjective approach (or formal and content analysis), it also prevails in The Square Root of Three. In this poem, we can see many aspects that can be covered by objective and subjective approach, such as metrical system, rhyme scheme, alliteration, theme, figurative languages, and so forth, that should be scrutinized first before, at last, we can come to the comprehension of the meaning that want to be conveyed by the poem.

Initially, the focus of this analysis is by using objective approach (formal analysis). To begin with, let us talk about the most obvious aspect that is able to be seen in a poem, that is the number of stanza. This poem consists of eight stanzas. The number of lines in each stanza is barely different. The first, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth stanzas are made up of two lines, and the rests (the second and sixth stanza) entail four lines. After that, the metrical system is covered. It can be said that this poem uses iambic tetrameter as its metrical system for most of the lines use this metrical system, yet there is an exception, that is iambic octameter (with a sprungrythm: a spondee in the eight feet), for the fourth stanza. Moreover, the number of the syllable mostly is eight syllables except the fourth stanza, which has sixteen syllables. Because of this metrical system aspect, this poem has masculine rhyme because the final syllables of the rhyming words are always stressed. In relation to the stanza and the sentences in the poem, there are several enjambments that occur in this poem. As we can see, most stanzas are constructed in run-on line, the first, third, sixth stanzas for instance. Here, we can see that they actually are in one sentence but they are divided into several parts in the form of lines. Next aspect that can be analyzed objectively is the rhyme scheme. This poem has aabbccddefaagghhiijj as its rhyme scheme. Afterwards, alliteration comes to be analyzed.  Alliteration happens quite frequently in the poem. It occurs in the second line (lonely-like), third line (the-that), sixth line (wish-were), seventh line (thwart-this), ninth line (see-sun), tenth line (such-sad), eleventh line (when-what), seventeenth line (free-from), and eighteenth line (with-wave). Next feature to be scrutinized is theme. The theme of this poem is obviously about love. When the readers read the early lines of The Square Root of Three, they may not figure out that the theme of this poem is love, but when they get to the end of this poem, they may be going to realize that The Square Root of Three is a love poem. Besides, the atmosphere that is established through the diction used is all about love. Subsequently, here comes the figurative language. This poem utilizes, at least, three figurative languages. The first one is metaphor. Metaphor is employed in the first stanza (I feel that I will always be a lonely number). This stanza has metaphor as its figurative language for there is a direct comparison between ‘I’ and a lonely number. The second one is personification, which is deployed in the fourth and fifth lines (Why must my three keep out of sight beneath the vicious square), seventh line (For nine could thwart this evil trick), thirteenth line (Has quietly come waltzing by), and the eighteenth line (with the wave of magic wands). It is due to the fact that some things stated in the poem is humanlike, they can do something that usually only humans that are able to do so. The last is simile. Simile can be identified with the utilization of the words ‘as’ and ‘like’ to show the comparison of two things, A lonely number like root three (the second line), I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321 (the ninth line) and Rejoicing as an integer (the sixteenth stanza) for instance.

Subsequently, the next point to be explored is the subjective approach or content analysis of the poem. This poem forms a story that is chronological here. Alike other stories in the prosaic form, this poem has three elements in its stanzas, those elements are order, climax and re-order. In the order part, the writer usually begins to introduce the readers to the situation of the story. In The Square Root of Three, the order part is in the first to third stanzas. In these stanzas, the writer tells that there is a narrator (“I”) who sees his life as an arithmetical problem. The narrator feels that his life is lonely and he (we prefer to use the pronoun “he” here) compares his lonely life to a number of three that stands beneath a square root. The narrator thinks that under that square root, he cannot enjoy his life as much as the other who can free themselves from any obstructions, which, in this case, is represented by the number of nine for when nine stands up beneath a square root, it still can result an integer, which is three. The next stanza (the fourth stanza) is the climax of the story told through this poem. Climax is a state where a story comes to its most important or exciting point. Here, the narrator sees himself as 1.7321, which is the result from the square root of three. By being like this, the narrator believes that it is a sad reality of his to see the life, which is represented by the sun, incompletely. In this state, the narrator finds himself imperfect. He is not an integer that can stand by itself. He is a fraction, he is defective, and in his opinion, by being like this, he cannot see his life as perfect as an integer, as other people may see. Furthermore, the number of syllable used here can also identify the climax. As aforementioned, this very stanza has the longest syllables used, that are sixteen syllables, while others only utilize eight syllables for each. It shows that this very stanza has an important point to the story. This important point is, as aforesaid, the climax of the story. The rest of the stanzas are also able to strengthen this opinion. The next four stanzas show the re-order or denouement part of this story. This aspect shows the final part of the story when everything is made clear and no question or surprise remains. In this poem, the finding of another square root of three illustrates this point. In the fifth to eight stanzas, we can see that the narrator has found someone to share his loneliness that finally becomes his lover. He also matches up this someone to the square root of three whom he can multiply with so that they together can form an integer. An integer here shows something complete. Therefore, by multiplying him to his live or in other word, by being together, they can fulfil their dream to see the world and enjoy their lives completely as what other people can do.

In a nutshell, David Feinberg’s The Square Root of Three has many things to cover, for example the number of the stanza, metrical system, rhyme scheme, alliteration, figurative languages, and other formal aspects of the poem. By analyzing these aspects, then we can come to the meaning that wants to be expressed. Some formal aspects may assist the readers to come to the understanding of the poem’s meaning for we can also relate the formal aspects of the poem to its meaning. As we can see, this poem uses the constant number of syllables for each stanza except for its fourth stanza, and it has been proven that it has a significant part to the poem. Here, we can conclude that we cannot just separate one thing to the others in analyzing something, in this case poem, for everything is connected and related. 

Written by: Endri, Bangun and Me