[math-fun] "The Loves of the Triangles"

FYI -- The Rime of the Ancient Mathematician. Believe it or not, the following is math porn ~1798. Yes, I think they twittered after reading this doggerel. http://uniformlyatrandom.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/the-loves-of-the-triangles... And first, the fair PARABOLA behold, Her timid arms, with virgin blush, unfold! Though, on one focus fix’d, her eyes betray A heart that glows with love’s resistless sway, Though, climbing oft, she strive with bolder grace Round his tall neck to clasp her fond embrace, Still e’er she reach it from his polish’d side Her trembling hands in devious Tangents glide. Not thus HYPERBOLA:­with subtlest art The blue-eyed wanton plays her changeful part; Quick as her conjugated axes move Through every posture of luxurious love, Her sportive limbs with easiest grace expand; Her charms unveil’d provoke the lover’s hand:­ Unveil’d except in many a filmy ray Where light Asymptotes o’er her bosom play, Nor touch her glowing skin, nor intercept the day. Yet why, ELLIPSIS, at thy fate repine? More lasting bliss, securer joys are thine. Though to each fair his treacherous wish may stray, Though each in turn, may seize a transient sway, ‘Tis thine with mild coercion to restrain, Twine round his struggling heart, and bind with endless chain. See: http://books.google.ca/books/download/Poetry_of_the_Anti_Jacobin.pdf pdf page 126 = book page 113. LOVES OF THE TRIANGLES. ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST CANTO. Warning to the Profane not to approach­-Nymphs and Deities of Mathematical Mythology­-Cyclois of a pensive turn-­Pendulums, on the contrary, playful­-and why?­-Sentimental union of the Naiads and Hydrostatics­-Marriage of Euclid and Algebra Pulley the emblem of Mechanics­-Optics of a licentious Disposition­-distinguished by her Telescope and Green Spectacles.­-Hyde Park Gate on a Sunday Morning­-Cochneys­-Coaches.­-Didictic Poetry­-Nonsensia­-Love delights in Angles or Corners-­Theory of Fluxions explained­-Trochais, the Nymph of the Wheel­Smoke-Jach described­Personification of elementary or culinary Fire.­Little Jack Horner­Story of Cinderella­Rectangle, a Magician, educated by Plato and Menecmus­in love with Three Curves, at the same time­served by Gins, or Genii­transforms himself into a Cone­The Three Curves requite his Passion­description of them­Parabola, Hyperbola, and Ellipsis­Asymptotes­Conjugated Axes.­lllustrations­Rewbell, Barras, and Lepaux, the Three virtuous Direct ors­Macbeth and the Three Witches­The Three Fates­The Three Graces I &c.