When I Heard The Learn D Astronomer Essay

Whitman: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
Whitman uses many literary devices in this poem to tell his story. The poem is divided into two halves. In the first half, the poem sets place in a lecture room. The narrator is a bored student who is listening to the astronomer’s lecture. He signed up for the class because he enjoys looking at the stars and space, but the course did not meet his expectations. Instead of any hands-on activities, he was passively participating. I can relate to the speaker of this poem because I have been in lectures where I feel so bored. Especially in my morning classes, where I have not fully awakened yet, I can barely focus on the information because it usually does not interest me. It does not help when a teacher has a monotone voice and does not see very interested in the topic.
The length of this poem in the first half is long and drags on, an

The student leaves the lecture because he is tired and sick of it. The mood changed from dull and lifeless to happy. Once he is outside, the lines of the poem begin to be shorter which may indicated that the speaker finds happiness in simplicity. He feels a sense of life and freedom outside. It is also important to note that the verbs changed from being passive to active because he is happy and not feeling forced or restrained. Word choice is well thought out to make audience feel the positivity from him leaving the lecture. For example, he looked at the “mystical moist night-air”. The word “mystical” means in awe, or fascination and can also be related to spiritual beliefs. He also “wander’d” off by himself which is different than a scientist who plans everything. This shows the distinction between an artist and a scientist. There is deep contrast between the two halves of the poem. In the lecture room it is loud and chaotic but outside, he looked up looked up in “perfect silence at the