Beauty is always in nature. It is express in many ways. In the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman express the beauty in the stars. Just looking up in space gave him peace. Walt writes about the fascination of the stars. How the night sky can transform a situation. He writes experiencing this phenomenon first hand is better than having it told. In most cases, the real is better than the copy. The beauty of the experience is needed, and to see the real thing than what is told. Whitman express how the night sky was all he needed and his feelings. In the poem “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth, the premise is like Whitman poem. It is the beauty in nature, and how people are not looking for nature to inspire. People are just looking less of nature. Both works show the worldly influence in people’s life. In both pieces, Whitman and Wordsworth showing how nature brings true beauty. Walt Whitman poem is about the marvel of astronomy. He wanted to learn about the stars. He went and heard an astronomer. He tells, “When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me.” All the data about astronomy was laid out in front of him, but this did not captivate his interest or filled his curiosity. It mad things worst. His plan to see the beauty in the stars was turned to boredom and sitting in a tiresome, lackluster lecture. He writes, “How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick.” The lecture, data, and astronomer were not the beauty he wanted to see. The visual experience is what he wanted to see. The silence and view of the stars was better for him than the lecture and data. The beauty is what he really wanted. He did not want the hard facts. He ... ... middle of paper ... ...y. An astronomer could not give the speaker what he wanted. He did not want the graphs and data. Those bored him to a extent that he left the lecture. He went outside and was satisfied more with just the silence of the stars and night-air. He did not need the notes or an establish astronomer to see the beauty. In “The World Is Too Much with Us” the speaker shows the fault of society and how less of nature in evolved. The speaker, if he could, would try to just for a small portion of nature in his life. He wants a glimpse so he would not feel like he is forgetting about nature. He wants to see the Sea. Proteus or Triton is want he wanted. Even if it makes him “A pagan suckled in a creed outworn.” The beauty in nature is want both speakers wan, and what both writers explain. Nature has more to offer and show than the world, graphs, data, or astronomer can ever show.
In Walt Whitman’s 1865 poem “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer,” the writer calls for a revival of romanticism midst an increasingly rationalistic environment. His strategy emphasizes rationalism's popularity and downplays the underrated beauty of romanticism.
Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” is a poem that illustrates a boring moment in the narrator’s life. The speaker is listening to a famous and renowned astronomer speak about everything but the stars. He, the speaker, politely listens as the astronomer continues with his lecture on equations and numbers. We can assume that the narrator is feeling a type of disappointment when he starts to feel a sense of sickness. Some of the themes that Walt Whitman uses in describing his poem for one would be dissatisfaction. Another theme Whitman uses is isolation he self imposes on the narrator.
He believes that one can learn about themselves, their souls, by looking at/to nature. Although, in “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Whitman avoids explicitly religious language in order to be inclusive, which is always crucial in a time of war. He didn’t want to divide people any more than they already war, like the north and the south and black or white. In Genesis 1:28 “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” Whitman took this seriously by commanding the river to keep flowing and the waves to dance, the sun to shine and the clouds to frame its beauty. He speaks of everything that he loves about his ferry ride, including the people around him. He wants to remind his readers, and possibly himself, that it’s the physical world that connects us all and nature that allows us to connect with our own souls. We mustn’t forget our physical surroundings. Whitman believes that it is our relationship with nature is the key to achieving and fulfilling true unadulterated
`Whitman was always asking questions. He believed that life's goal or cause was a mystery. He was surrounded by people who were drawing distinct lines between right and wrong, rejecting the things in the universe that were not a direct ticket to holiness. Whitman, unlike his contemporaries, embraced the beauty of everything. His mystical perception of the world ushered in the idea that God was to be found in every thing, and that He could never be fully understood. I think that section six of "Song of Myself" captures Whitman's quest for knowing, and his idea that our perceptions of what is, only scratch the surface.
With words and phrases like “isolated” (“Noiseless” 2) and “vacant vast surrounding” (“Noiseless” 3), Whitman retains dark and hopeless tone. The words that define the tone are mainly describing how hopeless human’s soul can be. This is based on the analysis of the humans, which is based on individualism, the cornerstone of transcendentalism. On the other hand, in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Whitman keeps his casual tone, just like he is discussing his anecdote. This tone is the opposite of the one used during the Age of Reason, when the justifications and logics were prevailing. As the transcendentalism sought separation from European heritage, the works at that time period were casual and from sudden inspiration. “Astronomer” definitely shows how the writings demonstrate the sudden change in writing form—an important aspect of
Lindfors, Berndt. "Whitman's 'When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.'" Walt Whitman Review 10 (1964): 19-21.
Poetry is a form of writing that is written by very few but Walt Whitman is able to write his poetry in such a way that it will last for centuries. A poet would like all parts of a poem-words lines, stanzas, thoughts, metaphors, rhythms, imagery, diction, syntax, etc.- to work in perfect harmony. In poems like “A Noiseless Patient Spider” and “O Captain, My Captain!” Walt Whitman uses literary devices such as rhythm, syntax, imagery and diction. All of these devices take poems like “A Noiseless Patient Spider” and “O Captain My Captain!” and add a splash of life, giving everything a meaning only for him to really understand but something for everyone to enjoy.
He, in the first five lines, refers in detail to all the astronomical information presented to him without describing them to add a sense of dryness and abstraction to the concepts and show how uninteresting they were. “ Proofs”, “figures”, “columns”, ”charts”, “diagrams”, “add”, “divide” and “measure” were all listed one after the other to highlight the quantity of the materials the astronomers provided. More importantly, however, they were stacked in the poem one after the other without any description to emphasize how they lacked quality. They did not deserve a vivid illustration as to what they are. They did not even deserve a single adjective that would beautify them ever so slightly and take them out of the position of abstraction they are put in the poem. In fact, Whitman decides to adopt the astronomers’ preference of quantity over quality for just the first five lines of the poem to show how it was flawed. He, like the astronomers, overwhelms his readers with facts about the multitudes of materials he experienced without providing any explanation or description to add some meaning to them or paint a picture of them in the brains of the readers like how a poet would to show, and not tell, how futile
"look in vain for the poet whom I describe. We do not, with sufficient plainness, or sufficient profoundness, address ourselves to life, nor dare we chaunt our own times and social circumstances. If we filled the day with bravery, we should not shrink from celebrating it. Time and nature yield us many gifts, but not yet the timely man, the new religion, the reconciler, whom all things await" (Emerson 1653). Emerson is stating how everything can be a poem and a poet can reflect on valuable resources like nature to draw on and write. Whitman clearly uses this guide in order to write his poetry. He agrees that nature is a valuable tool.
This article is describing the large archive of historian Walt Whitman, hence the phrase “I am large, I contain multitudes” in his notable poem, “Song of Myself” embedded in Leaves of Grass masterpiece. The archive contains his lifelong body work that associated with what was happening in the U.S. of the nineteenth century, the Civil War being one. When pertaining to the Walt Whitman Archive, the article is stating that it contains a vast amount of texts and other materials.
Walt Whitman has unique traits in his poetry for many reasons. His works contain an abundance of different literary devices, display his way of life, and vary in subject. First of all, Whitman’s poems contain lots of figurative language written in free verse. Free verse contains neither rhyme, nor meter. For example, Whitman writes, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear./Those of the mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong” (“I Hear America Singing” 1-2). The first line of this poem contains two literary devices: anaphora and assonance. Whitman uses
In “On the Beach at Night Alone,” Walt Whitman develops the idea that everyone has a connection with everything else, including nature. Whitman uses a variety of writing techniques to get his point across. First, the repetition and parallel structure that his poems contain reinforce the connection between everything in nature. The usage of “All” 11 times emphasizes the inclusion of everything in the universe. The sentence structure remains the same throughout the poem, without any drastic change; however, the length of the lines in the poem vary. In addition, Whitman’s’ extravagance with his words further illustrates his idea of the Over-Soul. For example, “A vast similitude interlocks all” (4) shows his verbose nature. Whitman does not do directly to the point, but gives every little detail. Most importantly, Whitman’s’ use of catalogues stands as the most recognizable Whitman characteristic that illustrates his beliefs. These long lists that he uses set the mood of the poem. “All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,” (5) shows the idea that everything is connected in nature. Similarly, “All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations languages.” (10) furthermore emphasize Whitman’s belief in the Over-Soul.
In the poem Song of Myself featured in Leaves of Grass, the poet Walt Whitman describes that everybody occupies an individual place in the universe because they are composed of atoms, also everybody has a purpose in life. Whiteman explains, “For every atom belonging to me...belongs to you.” (ll.3). This example proves that everybody is equal by saying that what belongs to him also belongs someone else. The author says that everything is made up of atoms in order to show that everything and everybody is equal.Whiteman emphases people being equal and sharing the same thing in a time where there was slavery. Additionally the text discusses,"...sprouting alike in broad zones and and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among white..." (ll,
In this poem, Whitman describes a scene in which he leaves a lecture out of pure boredom and disappointment at the value of receiving a lecture. By the end of the poem, Whitman describes looking up at the stars, which the astronomer or professor, was “teaching” about, and learning more in that moment than he had the rest of the night. To conclude these thoughts he ends with the line, “Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.” (432) Walt’s main point through this piece is that experiences teach much more than the recitation of words or the examination of data could ever teach. This idea probably directly stems from his lack of formal education. Whitman was a strong believer in the individual as well; he believed that an individual teaching themselves through experience was more valuable than any school. Like Scott Trudell said, this piece, “…highlights the stress between the self-referential and even contained method of science, and the intuition and romantic knowledge of the individual.” (Trudell) Once again, this poem highlights Whitman’s radical ideas that challenged all preexisting education
Society’s ability to discover beauty around them is quickly fading day by day as the definition of beauty is transforming into anything shallow or easily obtained. In William Wordsworth’s Romantic sonnet “The World Is Too Much With Us,” an advocate for nature reveals how people no longer have respect for nature and its beauty. Through his observation, he wishes to share his disappointment on how humanity’s materialistic mindset has separated the harmony of society with nature.