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 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.
Analysis:
This poem is divided into two main stanzas. There isn’t a rhyme scheme not a perfect meter. In the first stanza, the poet, Walt Whitman, is participating at a conference of an astronomer. He is talking about proofs, figures, charts and diagrams. However, for the poet, transforming the sky and the stars into chats and calculations is like taking away the magic and mystery of the Universe. At the end of the first stanza, Whitman is saying that the “leanr’d astronomer” was listened carefully and very much applauded but the others in the lecture room. However, in the second stanza, the port says that he didn’t like this conference, and soon got sick and tired of it. He therefore went out of the lcture room in the “mystical moist air-night” (l.9). And, from time to time, looked up in perfect silence at the stars (l.9-10). For him, that is perfection, not the diagrams and charts. In this poem, the major themes are nature, and the exploration of the unknown. The first stanza may be contain a metaphor, putting into relation the charts and the sky. I enjoyed this poem, for it showed that life isn’t just math, but also mystery. Whitman managed to send this message by describing the Universe under two different lights: one purely mathematical, analytical way, and the other keeping the magic and mystery of the unknown.
