15 pages • 30 minutes read
Walt WhitmanWhen I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1865A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Knowledge vs. Wonder
The most prominent theme in Whitman’s poem is the divide between scientific knowledge and natural wonder. While the “learn’d astronomer” (Line 1) seeks to understand the stars and bring order to the night sky with his precise measurements and mapping of the stars, the poem’s speaker ultimately longs for a more intuitive, emotional response to the natural world. While the astronomer leans on “the proofs, the figures” (Line 2), and “the charts and diagrams” (Line 3) of his scientific discipline to know the night sky, the speaker is left feeling only “tired and sick” (Line 5) when confronted with so much dry data. The speaker’s decision to go out for a solitary walk allows him to reconnect with the stars in his own way – a way that involves rediscovering the mystery and beauty of nature for its own sake. In describing the “night-air” as “mystical” (Line 7), the speaker emphasizes his own experience as non-formulaic and rooted in a more instinctive and emotional approach. The subtlety of the poem ensures that the poem’s message is not anti-scientific, but rather, pro-wonder. Whitman appears to be gently reminding the reader that nature always remains mysterious and omnipresent, regardless of how much science may advance.
Communal vs. Individual Experiences
The poem contains two different settings in spite of its short length: the poem opens in the lecture hall where the astronomer is speaking and closes outside, where the speaker sets off walking by himself. These two settings help to set up the contrast between the scientific approach and the more “awe-struck” approach to the natural world, but they also create a contrast between communal and individual experiences. While the astronomer gives his presentation alone, it can be assumed that the data he is displaying is the work of many experts within the field pooling their knowledge and resources together over many years. Likewise, the presence of the audience reinforces the sense of a shared experience, of a society trying to gain in understanding as a whole. But the speaker’s solitary walk at the poem’s close suggests an alternative: in choosing to experience nature by himself and in his own amateur, non-prescribed way, the speaker escapes from the communality of both scientific knowledge and society at large. In doing so, he reconnects with his private emotions, exchanging the “applause” (Line 4) of the lecture hall for the “perfect silence” (Line 8) he can experience alone in nature.
The Glories of Nature
While the astronomer and the speaker represent different approaches to the natural world, the one aspect they share in common is the sense that nature is worth knowing. The speaker never suggests that the astronomer or the audience is wrong in any respect; his own individual reaction suggests that he simply prefers a different way of connecting with the natural world. The astronomer’s “proofs,” “figures”, and “charts and diagrams” (Lines 2-3) are all evidence of how closely the astronomer and his fellow scientists study the sky, while the astronomer’s act of giving a public lecture suggests he is eager to share his knowledge with others. This is – in its own disciplined, academic way – a tribute to nature and the value of studying and appreciating it. But the speaker’s disconnected reaction to the lecture is evidence that there is more than one way to enjoy nature. The speaker prefers enjoyment over knowledge, and his night walk allows him to experience nature more emotionally and intuitively than logically. And yet, the poem seems to imply that nature is a glorious force that can bring satisfaction either way.
Related Titles
By Walt Whitman
