WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER

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.

“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” is a poem written by Walt Whitman. It begins by repeating the title, something that often happens in  poetry and gives further relevance to the first phrase. It suggests  the idea that the speaker is listening to an educated astronomer. The impression is due to the internal rhyme , of “heard” with “learn’d”. Rhyme emphasizes the two words, the first describes the action of the poet, the second connotes the astronomer as a learned person.  The other element of the first line to notice is the use of the contracted form of “learned.” Usually  contract forms are used in the language of conversation, and in the context of the poem, the contraction may suggest that the speaker uses a different, perhaps a more common or lower level  style of expression from the learned scientist.

The next three lines represents the triumph of the scientific method and rationalism. It sounds as if the universe has been scientifically understood by the astronomer, who is able to easily present his scientific discoveries by  "proofs" and figures" that were "ranged in columns before me". The section of the poem presents the universe as if it were something  easily explained by scientific formula or mathematical equations. The listeners are impressed and break into applause, except for the speaker.  To tell the truth the poet differently for the in spite of all for all his learning, can never produce anything as magnificent as  nature. This of course shows the limits of science, as it appears with the effect of the"learn'd astronomer," on the speaking voice. In spite of his intelligence about the universe, he has lost the ability to involve and create curiosity in the wonders of the world  and all that going beyond him. When Whitman describes the speaking voice sudden departure  from the lecture hall as "riding" and "gliding", he  shows a gap between science and the individual: He wanders off by himself without an apparent reason, almost instinctively and only on that very moment the universe and the stars show him all of their fascination and siilence provides a sense of freedom, beauty and possibly liberation.