When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer is a poem written by Walt Whitman during the eighteenth century. The poem is about a narrator who hears a lecture from an astronomer and feels “tired and sick” about it. The narrator then goes outside and sees stars. From this poem, the author may be trying to convey that leaving nature unsolved and mysterious is better than making nature become something systematic and confusing. Whitman shows this through diction, form, imagery and the time period he lived in.

Whitman was born in 1819 and lived until 1892 which is the same time period as the Romanticism period. The Romanticism period is characterized by revering nature and individualism. The overall meaning of the poem shows influence by this period.  “When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much Applause in the lecture-room” This quote means that the narrator was sitting down while other people applauded. The narrator  not applauding the astronomer shows that he does not respect what the astronomer was lecturing about because usually when peers around someone applauds, one would follow and applaud as well. Therefore the narrator does not respect the material that the astronomer was lecturing about such as the proofs, the figures, the charts and the diagrams as mentioned in the poem. And after the narrator goes outside, he sees something he feels that is magnificent and perfect shown with, “looked up in a perfect silence at the stars”. The silence shows that the narrator respected nature because he was silent when starring at the stars. The respect the narrator showed towards the astronomer and the stars is clearly a different level of respect. Therefore the poet reveres nature and respects nature while he does not think that making nature systematic is a good thing.

            The form of the poem is free flow. The poem is not syncopated and is very smooth with the words and the individual line. Therefore the free flow of the poem is related to nature because nature also signifies freedom. Freedom again can be tied to the influence of the Romanticism period which revered freedom as well as nature.

            The diction of the poem plays a very important role in defining the meaning of the poem. The poem starts with the word when, and the word when is repeated three times after. All the ‘when’ words used in the poem is placed at the beginning of the sentence which gives the first impression of the sentence. Because “when” is repeated four times, it shows the important of the word. The word is usually used in front of a question which shows confusion. Therefore the repeated ‘when’ s in the poem conveys confusion. The confusion is directed at the sentence with the ‘when’ beginning it. Those sentences are the sentences that include the astronomer and the things he lectured about. “When the proofs, the figures were ranged in columns before me” therefore the narrator  in the poem was confused with what the astronomer was teaching.

“Tired and sick” is a part of diction that the author stressed. The author did not mean ‘sick and tired’ a term we often use in the modern world to convey that we are bored of something. But instead the author of the poem mean for the reader to pull the two words apart and define tired and sick by itself. When tired and sick is pulled apart, in the context of the poem, the narrator does not want to listen to the astronomer anymore because he does not like what he is listening to. Which can also be further backed up by the fact that the narrator wandered off.

“Myself” is also an important word because it shows the individual in the narrator who wandered off. The individualism here is connected to a key characteristic in the Romanticism period. Therefore again supporting the fact that the author of the poem was influenced by the time period he lived in.

Lastly for diction, the word “mystical” has an importance to show that it is very magical to see the stars in its own nature instead of in a systematic way. “Looked up in a perfect silence at the stars” supports the idea that the stars are magical in its own natural way.

            “In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Looked up in a perfect silence at the stars.” This quote creates an image of white smoke surrounding the night with a few bright stars shining in the sky. The white smoke effect is created by “mystical moist night air” because moist reminds the reader of air particles being vaporized which looks white and smoky. Mystical always creates something mysterious and hidden, therefore the stars will create and image of being hidden by the white smoke. The image of the stars being bright is created by the reader due to the word “silence” because in famous songs such as Silent Night, Silent night is usually tied in with bright stars. Therefore the image of white smoke and bright stars can be created through the authors writing

            The message of the poem is to leave nature as is and to not take nature apart into pieces and make it systematic. Romanticism is the main influence of the poem as shown in the diction of the words myself and mystical. The confusion in the person in the poem is created through the word when which is repeated four times. The form of the poem supports the idea of revering nature. And the imagery created for the reader is a smoky white night with bright stars. The mysterious outlook on nature is the best impression.