Learning Paths » 5C Interacting
When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer
1 When I heard the learned astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them,
5 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,
10 look'd up in perfect silent the stars.
“When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer” was written by W.Whitman.
Looking at the title, the reader can imagine the poem will talk about a person who is listening an astronomer conference. There is an internal rhyme between “heard” and “learn’d”, in order to emphasize the distance from the learn’d astronomer to the recipient.
Coming to the layout, the first thing I notice is the different length of lines. In the first part, Whitman talk about the order of maths; charts and diagrams are symbols of precision, on the other hand, lines has different length, they seem confused.
This introduce the second part of the poem, where Whitman express his disappointment to this order.
In line 7 the poet conveys contempt, he feels “tired and sick”.
In line 9 there is an oxymoron: “mystical moist night-air”. The reader can understand the night is not a common night.
Whitman probably can find the perfect atmosphere to reflect, unlike the astronomer conference.
Line 10 is the opposite of the title. In this line the poet becomes himself the astronomer, he is looking up at the stars.
But, the reader can understand that it is not the astronomer point of view, Whitman observes the stars without physical theories and concrete science.
In my opinion the poet can see in the stars many things the astronomer can’t see: the astronomer is only able to describe stars in a scientific way, but the poet understand and convey human feelings.