Andrea Furlan, 27th September 2011, Textual analysis

WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN’D ASTRONOMER by Walt Whitman

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer;  

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;  

When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;  

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, 

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;

Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,  

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,  

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

The title of this poem by Walt Whitman is “When I heard the learn’d astronomer”. This title contains a verb in the simple past tense, so the poet is referring to a memory; beside, the poem will probably be about a conference or a lecture by an expert astronomer in the presence of the narrator, identified by the “I” in the title.

The structure of the poem is very simple, since it has just one stanza and it is in free verse. At the end of every line there is a comma; this is meant to create a pause and to slow down the rhythm. What’s more, there is the anaphoric repetition of the word “When” at the beginning of the first four lines and there are lists of objects and actions relating to astronomy and mathematics (proofs, figures / add, divide, measure). All these choices contribute to decelerate the pace and they also convey a sense of tediousness and boredom. Moreover, the poet only uses verbs of perception (heard, was shown) that do depict a passive attitude. In opposition to the first part of the poem, from line 1 to 4, in the second part lines are shorter and, while the repetition of “when” disappears, there are alliterations such as “m” and “t” in line 7 (mystical, moist / time to time). As a consequence, the poet succeeds in creating a dreaming atmosphere.

The poem is about a lecture by an astronomer, attended by the narrator. During the explanation, the astronomer writes some figures and diagrams on the blackboard, to show the students how to catalogue stars and other space objects. While all the students seem to appreciate the explanations, since they applaud the astronomer, the narrator suddenly feels sick and discomforted, without being able to explain why; so he goes out in the night air and he looks in silence at the stars.

The poem reflects two different methods to study astronomy: the first one, followed by the expert astronomer, consists in a mathematical and logical classification of collected data; the second one, followed by the narrator, is more focused on emotions and it involves a direct observation of the sky and its phenomena. This distinction is stressed both by the variation of rhythm and by the shift of the focus from the description of the astronomer’s lecture to the report of the narrator’s reactions.

Concluding, I think this poem shows very effectively the inadequacy of a just reason-based method to study and analyze such a complex matter like space.