Analysis of “When I heard the learned astronomer”

Reading only the title, the reader can imagine that the writer is going to deal about his memory, probably when he attempted an high-school, or even an university, during an astronomer’s lesson. The title is also incomplete, in order to create in the reader’s mind a mood of suspense and to push him to read the poem to the end.

This poem is also composed by one stanza, made by free lines.

The writer uses past verbs to recall the dimension of memory: he remembers when he attempted the school, exactly during astronomy, to show his bore about astronomer’s teaching method. He also uses passive verbs to explain his indifference and his disinterest about the astronomer’s lesson.

There is often the presence of sound “d”, which is a dental sound: it is used to highlight more his sense of bore and disinterest about astronomer’s lesson.

In the title and in the first line, the poet uses the verb “to hear” instead of “to listen to”: he made this choice because he wanted to put on the first line that he followed that lesson just to be there and not for passion or interest.

At line 1 and 2, there is a climax: it is used to push the reader to read the entire poem and feel the sense of bore and disinterest that the writer proved during the astronomy lesson.

In the second part of the poem, the writer decided to exit the lecture-room, because he was tired and sick about that lesson, highlighted by the verb “became” and the heavy sound of “d”.

At the last line, the writer explains that he saw the stars during a moist night: there he discovered a sense of liberty, peace and interest against all the feeling proved during the boring astronomer’s lesson.