WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER

Just considering the title the reader may expect the poem to be about somebody who is interested in stars. Such expectation is created by the word "astronomer". Another important aspect that catch the reader's attention is the verb heard. In particular this is a simple past tense, so it suggests something that is finished. So, it conveys the idea of a memory. Besides, there's the first pronoun "I" that adds a lyrical dimension to the text.

Reading the poem I realise that its arrangement isn't a traditional one. As a matter of fact it's not organised into stanzas and so it is in free verse. Taking into consideration the lay-out it highlights the image of a diagram. In fact, the lines go from a short to a longer arrangement recalling the columns of a mathematic script. A intelligent reader will immediately notice the anaphoric repetition of "when", underlining  the idea of a memory. What's more, the verbs are all in the simple past tense and so it forces this kind of idea. The poem seems to be divided into two parts. As a matter of fact till the first five lines the most of the words are about the semantic field of Maths and school. You can find proofs, figures, charts, diagrams, add, divide, measure, lectured. On the other side the topic seems to change. The words became full of personal feelings like tired, seek and myself. In addition there's a run-on-line (line 6 in the - lecture room) that breaks the rhythm and invites the reader to stop and think. In the second part of the text the lyrical I seem to be fall in a different dimension conveyed by the sounds. Indeed you can find long vowel sounds like "how soon" that opens a new dimension and creates in the reader a sense of vastity.

Focalising the attention of the syntactical level, the poem is simple and it flows quick. Even if there are a lot of commas in every line, stopping the reading. The most used tense is the past one, but there's a verb that should catch the reader attention: I was shown. It conveys a certain distance from the lyrical I to the astronomer(he). So, especially in fifth line there's a clear contraposition between this characters. Another important opposition that seems to open and close the poem is heard(first line) and silence(last line).

Summing up the poem tells about an astronomer, who is doing a lecture and he is applauded by all people who was attending the lesson. On the other and there's the lyrical I that feels distant from the learned teacher. So the speaking voice, bored with the lesson, falls sleeping and starts dreaming. It dreams the night and the stars, stars that didn't like when the astronomer was teaching.

Taking the rhetorical level into consideration a intelligent reader can notice the anaphoric repetition creating the idea of a memory. In addition the phonological level seems to force this topic. Indeed we find from "time to time". This device underlines the  thought of a new space, a new dimension. The dimension of a dream.

The poem wants to teach us all things can be seen into differents ways. As a matter of fact the lyrical I don't like the lectured about maths and stars, but when he got to sleeping he became captured by those.