Preview

Analysis: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
724 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
Walt Whitman

1. Bio:
Walt Whitman practically taught himself to read through the works of Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, and the Bible during his time as a printer’s apprentice in New York City. After a printing district fire in 1836, Whitman became a teacher, and then a journalist. In 1855, he published the first edition of Leaves of Grass, sending a copy to Ralph Waldo Emerson, famous transcendentalist. In 1865, the updated edition included Emerson’s letter of praise.

Whitman’s brother was wounded in the Civil War, and the poet was overcome by the sheer mass of suffering caused by the fighting. He lived off the salaries of a clerk and the assistance of worldwide supporters in order to care for the wounded in Washington, D.C. In 1873, visiting his dying mother in Camden, NJ, he suffered a debilitating stroke which forced him to stay there with his brother. The income from the 1882 version of Leaves of Grass finally allowed Whitman to purchase his own home. He worked on revisions to his primary work and prepared the 1891 volume of poems and prose Goodbye, My Fancy until his death on March 26, 1892.

2. Figurative Language:
One of the most striking elements in Whitman’s work is figurative language, which is evident in When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer. The poet makes good use of extended metaphor in the first stanza, substituting the astronomer for all those who seek to hide nature’s beauty behind science and mathematics, with a minor reference to the ability of such people to sway others into their beliefs when writing the lecturer spoke to “much applause”. The speaker in the poem is also a representation, one of those who refuse to let figures and measurements cloud their views at that which cannot be explained or quantified, and the stars image nature’s inscrutability and obscurity.

3. Diction:
A useful element in understanding this poem is Whitman’s diction. The sharp-sounding jargon of the first stanza is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Walt Whitman wrote a poem in honor of Abraham Lincoln titled, When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom’d. Although the poem never actually says who its about you can tell from the pleather of references allow you to see who Whitman is talking about. Whitman speaks of the sadness that he and the entire generation of American’s will carry with them each year as they are reminded of the assassination of the man who planned to reunite the nation with the “malice towards none and charity for all”. Deemed one of the finest poems Whitman has ever written.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1. How does the information contained in this statement aid us in our interpretation of poetry? What does it tell us into utterance? How has a previous equilibrium been unsettled? What is the speaker upset6 about?…

    • 4739 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    poetry device

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “I sit and look out…I hear secret…I see in low life…” Whitman, “I Sit and Look Out”…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walt Whitman was a great american poet that wrote about the CIvil War and life in general. In 1886, at the young age of 17, he became a school teacher and later became a journalist just five years later. In 1855 Whitman made Leaves of Grass, his first step toward poetry. He wrote this book of twelve poems and published it himself. Walt Whitman made, edited, and published many great american poems, including O Captain! My Captain! and Song of Myself, that he often included his views about transcendentalism and realism.…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compare and Contrast

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Whitman used repetition of words and phrases and his word choice portrayed a seemingly optimistic way of life in America. Using words like “singing,” “partying,” and “strong melodious songs” all have a positive air about them, which helps develop the writer’s perspective of America. The numerous occupations named in the poem additionally give a sense of appreciation for the possibilities in America, and gratitude for the ability to work and support a family, and in a sense, accomplish the American dream.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer”, by Walt Whitman, the speaker “[becomes] tired and sick” of the learned astronomer's “proofs, [and] figures” used to observe the stars. While the others attending the lecture applaud the astronomer for his approach to the stars, the speaker, however, exits the lecture hall to enjoy the stars in his preferred method of going outside in the “perfect silence”. These contrasting scenes expose the dichotomous relationship of the speaker’s and the astronomer's approach to observing the stars. The use of structure, diction, and imagery reveal how the astronomer’s approach of observing the stars is far too mechanical and structured to truly see their beauty.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    People of all kinds are influenced by their everyday life and it shows in their work. Walt Whitman is no exception to this rule. Whitman was born in 1819 on Long Island, New York. From there he was a free spirit. He worked many different jobs including working as a printer, political campaigner, writer, editor, freelance journalist, house builder, newspaper, publisher, hospital volunteer, office clerk, lecturer, teacher, and official in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Folsom). This seems to have directly translated into his writing as he is often referred to as the father of free verse poetry. While he was clearly a spark plug in the work place he didn’t start out as a huge sensation of a poet. In fact he at least partially taught himself how to read and write (Shepard). Writing first became a big portion of his life when he began to work with the Long Island Patriot newspaper. Here he was hired as an apprentice to a printer but began editing and really becoming involved with the act of writing literature. Even though this opportunity came at the very young age of twelve, his career as a writer never got its footing until 1855 when he released Leaves of Grass. From there he continued to show influence from his surroundings in his poems. For example when the Civil War broke out he volunteered in a hospital that his brother was in from being wounded in the war, he wrote a handful of…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whitman uses symbolism by “/observing a spear of summer grass” (5). The single blade represents how a small piece of grass is one thing that makes up this earth we live on and every small thing is what makes our planet special. Noticing the smallest and most underestimated…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    found the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman interesting. The poem was straightforward for the most part so I found it easier to read than many of the other poems. First, I found the use of the word gliding in the poem very strange. The speaker was in an astronomy lecture hall and he stood up and left in the middle of the lecture. When I imagine an individual standing up in the middle of a hall, I think of it being disturbing, loud and annoying. The choice of the words rising and gliding made it sound like the writer stood up smoothly and gracefully which I found strange in the context. Also, the line that says “How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick.” I understood unaccountable as in the author wasn’t feeling…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Walt Whitman

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Walt Whitman died a lonely man in Walt Disney Land. He was on the gondola ride, and he fell out because he wasn't fastened properly to the restraint. Thanks to his dumb, now none of us can…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As I read selected Walt Whitman’s poems I felt as if I was reading unfinished work. For example in the poem, “When I Heard the Learned Astronomer” it was very clear on what he was talking about. However, it felt to me as if he had received writers block. The poem could have gone on for a couple of more stanzas. I am no poem expert, but I feel as if the poem could have gotten into more details about the stars, and the astronomer. However, that is just me. Another one of his poems, “I Hear America Singing” was another beautifully written piece. However, once again, I felt as if it was not finished. He goes through each occupation with ease and briefly gives an overview of what they “sing.” To me, Whitman would have made an intriguing poem if…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Through the poem :When I Heard the Learn・d Astronomer;, Whitman leaves a dominant impression of his own view of astronomy and it・s abundance. He describes how the speaker recounts a day sitting through an astronomy lecture, listening to the astronomer・s dull mathematical descriptions of the stars by charts and figures. Gradually the speaker gets sick of its content. Instead, the speaker finds understanding and satisfaction just by wandering off plainly looking up at the night sky.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mitchel, J. "Constructing Walt Whitman: The Critics Contend With the Good G(r)ay Poet". Last Modified May 10, 1997…

    • 3844 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “A Song,” music tries to ring through the words. Whitman was a master at matching images with musical sounds. The reader can almost hear the river through the trees or the song of the prairies. In the poem, his love for music reaches out to people. Music is universal and brings…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walt Whitman’s use of first person in his poems, allows the reader to be the author’s spectator. It is like the author is talking directly to the reader, which makes the reader feel more comfortable to read the poem and understand it better. However, the author uses first person as a rhetorical device. This leads the reader to pay closely attention to the poem in order to figure out what topic the author is trying to make the reader consider, from his perspective. Whitman’s poem “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” clearly shows this use of first person as a rhetorical device.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays