Analysis of the poem "When I
heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by W.Whitman

Looking at the words
of the title of the poem, the reader can make conjectures about its possible
content.

First of all, he can
note the presence of the verb "heard". It is used in the past form and refers
to a first person subject. As a consequence, the poem could be about an
experience the subject went through in the past. What's more, the verb chosen
by the poet means that the subject overheard some sounds but he was not
interested in them.

Now, "the learn'd
astronomer" makes the reader suppose that the poem will regard a meeting or a
chat that the subject had with a smart astronomer in the past.

The poem is written in
free verse and each line has a different length and ends with a comma.
Punctuation creates pauses, because each line encloses a specific thought or
detail.

The speaker thinks
about a lecture he attended at the university: he perfectly remembers the
blackboard full of numbers, formulas, diagrams and charts that he was asked to
solve. He was set in front of the astronomer, hearing his lesson while the other
people applauded him and he suddenly felt sick and tired. He couldn't justify
his reaction, he got up and went out alone. It was a beautiful and silent
night, that's why he looked up at the sky and started watching the stars.

The poem may be
divided into two parts: the first one includes the lines beginning with the
anaphor "When I", the second one consists of the final lines. The first
sequence is about the astronomy lesson and comprises a semantic-field of
science (astronomer, figures, proofs, columns, charts, diagrams, lectured,
lecture-room, to add, to divide, to measure). However, it reveals also the
speaker's  impatience and boredom,
because he was not involved in the lesson. Indeed, the speaker uses the verb "I
was shown" at the passive form and he says that he didn't applaud the
astronomer like the other people in the room.

On the contrary, the
final sequence of the poem is built-up trough a semantic-field of the speaker's
feelings and emotions (tired, sick, wanderd, by myself, mystical, silence,
perfect). Considering the phonological aspect of these lines, the reader can
note the alliterative use of sound m (mystical moist) that recalls to the
wideness of the sky and the repetition of the open vowel sound "I" in the word
time, that conveys the idea of peace.

Summing up, the poem
explains that you can approach the same problem in different ways. In
particular, school-subjects can be studied technically, following a scientific
method or trough the personal experience and emotions. Anyway, is important for
the student being involved and curious about the matter: it is the only way to
reach satisfaction.

Etimologia del verbo pensare:

dal latino pensare = pesare, esaminare, apprezzare

dal latino pendere = pesare

à stimare, pesare e valutare le cose con l'intelletto