Euclid Alone has Looked on Beauty Bare
Edna St.Vincent Millay believes Euclid has studied the fundamental elements of beauty. My guess of what it means is that all picture, painting or architecture that are deemed beautiful are made out shapes. As Euclid has studied lines and circles without colours or decorations, Edna considers they are the foundation element of beaty. Moreover, Edna believes not everyone can handle this bare form of beauty. This poem left me lots of questions. Edna is a poet, why would she consider the bare forms of beauty are shapes instead of words? I looked into her connections with artist or mathematician and couldn’t find any. The closest I have got is that she has a friend named Thelma Wood, who is a sculptor. The way she uses literature to express the beauty of Mathematics invites us to think about how do the opposite. Instead of looking at Euclid’s work as the bare form of beauty, I believe many of us who studied Mathematics see it as the foundation of what we know now. His wo...
Thanks Duncan!
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