Discussion: Walt Whitman Sounds in Poems

Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astroner”

1.When I heard the learn’d astronomer,

2. When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before

me,

3. When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and

measure them,

4. When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with

much applause in the lecture-room,

5. How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

6. Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,

7. In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

8. Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

This is an 8-line poem. Notice that there is no end rhyme (also

called perfect rhyme; for example, “cat” and “bat” are

perfect rhymes). Notice that the lengths of all lines are

uneven. (I’m referring to the uneven syllable count).

When you can’t find any end rhyme or lines of the same length,

we call that “free verse,” and Whitman is given credit for

inventing it. In the absence of rhyme and a discernible rhythm (I would even

say that the rhythm in this poem is TERRIBLE!!!!), the sounds

of the poem can become very important. Whitman’s poetry may

look and sound flat and clumsy, but trust me, he was working

and reworking his poems for over thirty years! When we stop

to look closely at his writing, we make incredible

discoveries. 

The use of the apostrophe in this poem and in other poems of old

is very deliberate. The apostrophe is used to leave out

letters and to force an elision (a running together of sounds)

so that you go from having two syllables down to one syllable.

Whitman doesn’t want us to pronounce “learned” as a two-

syllable word (LEARN ed). The elision makes sure we say it as

a one-syllable word. Later on, he uses an apostrophe to

ensure that we don’t pronounce “wandered” as a three-

syllable word, but instead as a two-syllable word: WAN derd.

I’m going to expect you to use a metaphorical magnifying glass as you go over your

four assigned lines. Make sure you do a quick read up on Whitman, his dates of birth

and death, where he was born and lived, his employment, his

sexual orientation, etc. Did he go to school, to college?

Did he believe in God? Keep in mind that our nation was very

young when he was born and growing up, our nation born of

rebellion, and we find a suspicion of traditional institutions

or systems in this poem and others by Whitman. The

counterpart of revolution against an established or tyrannical

government in America has been the celebration of the

individual and the freedom of each of us in America to pursue

our own dreams and desires. You find that ideology in this

poem, too.

I think the poem is pretty straightforward, but it’s important

to put it into context. How much was known about the universe

(or the solar system) by 1865? Would it have been a big deal

if an important foreign astronomer had come to visit your

small town back then? Keep in mind that there was no

internet! There were few books written on the subject or

published in English! Astronomy probably wasn’t taught in

public school, and young people like Whitman were pulled out

of school at the age of 11 anyway, so when would they have an

opportunity to learn the latest scientific thinking and

research?

Here's what I want you to look for in lines 5-8. 

1. There’s so much wrong poetically with line 5. Start by

rearranging the words in an order we would use if we were

speaking, not reading. Where would the word

“unaccountable” go? Should it be “unaccountable” or

“unaccountably”? Isn’t the expression “sick and tired”?

Why has Whitman rearranged those words? What effect does

this line have on you? (Make sure to say it out loud).

2. As with the first four lines, there are still words that

start with R or have an R in them in lines 5-8. Count the

number of R words. Does this number compare with the number

of R words in the first four lines? Do they have any

“mood” effect on the poem?

3. Another sound is now much more dominant in lines 5-8: It is

the assonance of the long “I” vowel sound. List all the

words that use the long I sound. What effect does that sound

have on the listener as opposed to the R sound?

4. There is no alliteration in the first 4 lines, but there is

some alliteration (and consonance) in the last 4 lines,

assigned to you. Find words that begin with the same sound

or that contain the same opening consonant sound in them.

Remember: Alliteration refers to the opening consonant sound

of a word. What effect do these words have on you?