Analysis of the poem “When I heard the learned astronomer” written by W. Whitman

The title suggests me the poet will deal with a talk of an astronomer therefore about something scientific. The I think the writer conveys his own experience because is used the first singular pronoun and for the verb “heard” that involves a sensory perception.

This poem is composed of a single stanza of eight lines in free verses . Until the fourth, words of each line increase, then they decrease and the last line is the shortest of the poem. This conveys all the specify of science when poetry is quicker but deeper.

The first four lines are like a summary of the astronomer’s main action and keywords, emphasized by the anaphora  “when”, repeated  at the beginning of each line, by the coma and repeating similar sounds as letter “ear, ur, oo”.

Then the fourth line resumes the first one, communicating the astronomer talk. Therefore it gives a cyclic sense: from the beginning to the end, quoting the main elements dealt.

Instead the last four lines express the writer’s feeling: no one scientific instrument can be compared to the human eye, which can see deeper  the universe’s beauty and mystery. Indeed science can quantify and objectify: is a tool to understand physical laws that characterize the universe. But to catch nature’s beauty and harmony we have to go against using poetry.  This doesn’t mean that scientific method is useless because the writer himself says he has used it. Using past simple he communicates that he isn’t carrying on this method, but to understand the poetry’s deeper attitude he had to start with scientific method and to experience with it.

Then the alliteration in the last two lines “mystical moist and silent .. stars” communicates a sense of loneliness and peace, something essential to appreciate the sky’s harmony.

The writer uses a quite difficult language, but a careful reader can understand easily the chief points.

In my opinion this poem is realistic: sometimes the attention is paid on objective and precise tools, forgetting the imagination power.