4B+North

Phoebe North: //When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer// -Walt Whitman media type="custom" key="24534810"

Analysis: Walt Whitman's poem //When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer// is centered around the theme of individual experience rather than books and quantitative education. He expresses this theme through use of diction, punctuation, and figurative language. Primarily, Whitman's word choice effectively conveyed the mood of the poem, and provided transitions into a different tone toward the end. For example, the language set a bored, monotonous tone in the first part of the poem, using words such as "the proofs, the figures... the charts and the diagrams." The word choice is dull and mathematical, which progresses into more fluent, descriptive words as the poem goes on. This transition illustrates the mood change, and is more optimistic and wonderous as Whitman writes about nature and the environment.The trasncendental idea to disregard books and formal education in exchange for personal experience is clearly displayed. In addition, the figurative language of the poem effectively expresses the theme of individual experience by emphasizing the natural aspects. Whitman uses alliteration such as "mystical moist air," "time to time," and assonance in "rising and gliding." The figurative language makes the experience of nature much more appealing to hear than the plain language of the beginning of the poem. Also, the punctuation adds emphasis to the uniformity of books and learning. Whitman uses commas to draw out a sentence and make the action less exciting: "The proofs, the figures,... the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them." The use of punctuation, figurative language, and diction clearly contributes to the theme of individual experience rather than books, data, and education.

Response Poem to //I Sit and Look Out//- Walt Whitman I stand and watch the sun rise, and cast its rays upon the brooks and the blossoms,

I see the songbird illuminated in all her glory and splendor, resting after delivering a sweet song,

I observe a mother tending to her fawn, lying safe, gentle, innocent, in the hidden den,

I watch a group of swans drift through a pond with regal elegance, I sense an aura of superiority extending from their fine white feathers,

I gaze at the remote mountains in the distance, teeming with life among the snowy heights,

I hear the slow trickle of a stream traveling down a rocky path, over roots, stones, sand, I see a trout leap and descend back down,

I witness an eagle dive through the air with dazing drive, to catch a mouse hiding behind blades of grass,

I mark the towering height of the green forest, far, sheltered, and untouched by the grasp of humanity,

All these – all the beauty and magnificence extending through the air and Earth I standing gaze out upon,

Wish, hope, and dream I shall never leave

Phoebe North