When I Heard the Learned Astronomer is a beautiful poem written by Walt Whitman. It is one of his most famous poems, and it’s often read in schools as an example of Romanticism. The poem tells the story of how he heard a man who was a learned astronomer lecture on astronomy. He then walks us through what he does to analyze all that information, including questions like “What are the suns? What are their orbits?”
The poem is beautiful in the way it tries to answer these questions and gives us a sense of how he thinks about them. It’s also interesting because we can relate back to that time period, and see what their understanding was like.
An article on reading and analysis when I heard the learned astronomer
read and analyze when I hear the learned astronomer; astronomy; romanticism; suns, orbits, etc.; Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892); 19th century America)
When I Heard The Learned Astronomer by Walt Whitman tells a story of his walk home from work where he hears someone lecturing on astronomy.
The speaker has a “learned” astronomer speaking of the stars, suns, and their orbits to an audience at night in New York City. Whitman listens raptly to these lectures as he walks home each evening because they help him think about his own life on earth and how it relates back to space;
This person is learning new information and starts to think about the speaker’s mind by asking himself ‘why does anyone care so much?’ The walk becomes more personal than just listening. This happens with most people who are learning new information, they start relating it back to themselves rather than taking everything for face value.
Whitman also reflects on how he “grows” when he hears this lecturer speak because of his ability to see space from a different perspective.;
He realizes that lectures help him to grow because they provide another viewpoint from which one can look at things like space–an outside observer’s perspective.;
These are thoughts he never would have come up with without the influence of hearing this learned man speak. The speaker was inspired by a lecture given on astronomy; his mind is changed and invigorated by what he learns about cosmic space in general, and how it affects our lives specifically.
I agree with Whitman’s conclusion that these lectures help one grow because they provide a new perspective from which to look at things like space. These are thoughts he never would have come up with without the influence of hearing this learned man speak.;
When I read the learned astronomer, it is very difficult to understand what he is trying to say. But when I analyze his information by analyzing how he presents himself and statements that are made in his essay, this becomes much easier to comprehend.
I thought for my first paragraph that I would start with a quote from the essay “On Seeing at Night” by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The mood of nature impresses me daily more deeply than ever before.” It’s important because he starts off expressing how living without seeing is actually quite beautiful as well as interesting. He goes on further explaining things like not being able to see cars or other vehicles but still feels safe because “in their tracks, they have left an unmistakable record”. With this, I feel as though it’s very important to show the contrast between a blind person and what he or she sees.
It is not until Emerson goes on about his experience in Paris that we see where this essay takes an abrupt change of tone. He talks about how looking at paintings cannot compare to seeing them with one’s own eyes but when they are told by someone else the story behind each painting then “I know just how much I am missing”. This seems like a quick shift from talking about beauty without sight into being disappointed with lack thereof.
In my opinion, these two different quotes seem almost contradictory which leads me to believe that there may be something more going on here. Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson was using this essay as an opportunity to explore what he had seen in Paris and how it differed from his past experience of the same sights.
The essay is only a few pages long so for Emerson to talk about seeing paintings with one’s own eyes then mention that not having sight means being able to appreciate hearing descriptions of them by someone else, seems like an attempt at reconciling two different perspectives.
