When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" was written by poet, teacher, and Civil War volunteer nurse Walt Whitman. Whitman first published "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" in 1865 in his poetry collection Drum-Taps. In the poem, Whitman conveys his belief in the limits of using science to understand nature. Rather, Whitman suggests, one needs to experience nature for true understanding, instead of measuring it. The poem is an example of Whitman's characteristic free verse.
You can read the full text of “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” here.
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” Summary
The speaker listens to an esteemed astronomer lecture on the stars. The astronomer displays various mathematical proofs and evidence in columns to the audience in support of a scientific argument. The astronomer also displays various charts and diagrams and explains the mathematical calculations behind them. The speaker sits in the audience, who all applaud the astronomer’s lecture with great enthusiasm. Very quickly and unexplainably, the speaker finds the whole lecture unbearable. Therefore, the speaker rises and leaves the lecture room alone. Outside, it is nighttime and the air is damp. There is a magical quality to the surrounding nature. Occasionally, the speaker looks up at the beautiful stars overhead and embraces the silence of the night.
“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” Themes
Theme Knowledge, Nature, and Experience
Knowledge, Nature, and Experience
In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” the speaker attends an astronomer’s public lecture on the stars. While the audience enjoys the astronomer’s scientific explanations and mathematical equations, the speaker finds them unbearable. Indeed, the speaker believes that there is a power and beauty in nature that cannot be measured or explained. Rather, the poem seems to suggest that one can simply experience nature itself to gain a different—perhaps even deeper—understanding of the world.
The speaker finds the astronomer’s scientific perspective on the stars intolerable. The speaker lists the astronomer’s scientific methods of “proofs,” “figures,” “charts,” “diagrams,” “add[ition],” “divi[sion],” and other “measure[ments].” The speaker recounts the astronomer’s methods unemotionally and without figurative language, indicating the speaker’s lack of enthusiasm for the astronomer’s lecture.
Lines 1-4 of the poem, which relate the astronomer’s lecture, are wordier than the last lines, 5-8. The wordiness of these first lines reflects the speaker’s feeling of being bombarded by astronomer’s words. Even the enthusiastic “applause” of the audience does not change the speaker’s mind. Indeed, the speaker becomes
"unaccountabl[y]" "tired and sick." The speaker’s “unaccountable” nature stands in direct contrast and opposition to the astronomer’s attempt to measure and account for everything. That is, there are no charts or diagrams that can explain the speaker’s feelings.
Consequently, the speaker chooses to turn away from scientific analysis and be immersed in nature instead. The speaker “ris[es] and glid[es]” out of the room in order to go outside, and describes this departure as “wander[ing] off.” These verbs all suggest a free-spirited nature to the speaker’s actions that contrasts with the rigidness of the astronomer’s lecture. Indeed, once the speaker abandons scientific analysis, the speaker gains a type of freedom. This freedom allows the speaker to leave the confines of the lecture-room and go wherever he wishes in body and mind.
For the speaker, simply being in nature is an almost magical experience and can provide a deeper enlightenment than pure scientific study. The speaker describes his surroundings as “the mystical moist night-air.” The adjective “mystical” is used to describe the magical quality of the night around him. “[M]ystical” also has spiritual connotations. Therefore, the speaker suggests there is something spiritual and transcendent about directly experiencing nature. As the speaker looks up at the stars, there is “perfect silence.” This “silence” contrasts with the astronomer’s wordy and unbearable lecture. Moreover, this “silence” is “perfect.” Therefore, the speaker experiences perfection, and thus a transcendent understanding, in nature.
While the natural world can be explained in scientific terms, experiencing nature directly can provide an even greater enlightenment. Although the astronomer is “learn’d,” in other words well read and knowledgeable, the poem seems to imply that all the book learning in the world isn’t a substitute for actual experience and reflection. Some things, the poem argues, cannot be explained and are all the greater for it.
