When I Heard Learn D Astronomer Analysis

In “When I heard Learn’d Astronomer,” Walt Whitman uses figurative language and techniques in order to take us through his experience, while at the same time using sentence structure to explain the theme how learning on your own is better than learning through a self proclaimed teacher. Walt Whitman uses syntax in the beginning of the poem to take us through the poem with him and put us in his shoes. Repeating the first four lines with “when,” it causes us to watch his experience with the astronomer deteriorate and make him “tired and sick.” Whitman aso uses diction, which makes the poem flow more smoothly and allows us to be able to experience it better. Using phrases like “rising and gliding out” makes us feel as if we are gliding out
We can understand that Whitman believes in this philosophy of learning because of his explanation of how sick he got when more data and charts were being shoved into his brain. Whitman describes his experience in the lecture room by using denotation with words such as “lectures” and sitting,” which are more blunt and boring words, which sums up how he feels about this astronomer and his lecture. Whitman explains how much better he feels about self-learning with more descriptive and interesting words that calm us, using “rising and gliding,” and even alliteration with the “mystical moist night air.” The different between these blunt and calming words dignify Whitman’s belief and problem with this form of learning through lecture When Whitman “look’d up in perfect silence at the starts,” he is content and calm, learning much more in that one moment than what he might have learned in the form that made him “tired and sick.” Many people can agree with Whitman's belief on the principle of learning through experience. The stars give him wisdom and the sense of knowing, rather than constant knowledge from charts and