When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with muchapplause in the lecture-room,How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
Words in this poem
- unaccountable a.
- Not accountable or responsible; free from control. South.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer is in the public domain. This text is taken from Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook #1322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walt Whitman, When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/when-i-heard-the-learn-d-astronomer.html, id L03926.
Form and metre
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer is 9 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 64% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I heard the learn’d astronomer, | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, | 14 | ····/˘···/˘··· |
| When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, | 18 | ·······/˘···˘/·/˘· |
| When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much | 16 | ··/˘··˘/˘˘··/˘·· |
| applause in the lecture-room, | 7 | ˘/··/˘· |
| How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, | 14 | ···˘/˘˘·˘//˘·· |
| Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘··/˘···/ |
| In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, | 13 | ··/˘˘········ |
| Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.