Walt Whitman

About the Author

Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 –

March 26, 1892) was an American poet,
essayist and journalist. A humanist, he
was a part of the transition
between transcendentalism and realism,
incorporating both views in his works.
Whitman is among the most influential
poets in the American canon, often called
the father of free verse. His work was
very controversial in its time, particularly
his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which
was described as obscene for its overt
sexuality.
 About the Author

The central event of Walt Whitman’s life, literally and figuratively, was the

publication of Leaves of Grass. The first edition appeared in 1855, when the

poet was thirty-six years old. For the rest of his life, roughly thirty-six more

years, he would revise and expand the book through six more editions, his

work culminating in the Deathbed Edition of 1891–92. Whitman identified

himself completely with Leaves of Grass. In the poem “So Long” at the end

of the third (1860) edition, he says, “this is no book /Who touches this

touches a man.
 About the Poem: The First Theme

 Mere numbers, charts, and diagrams cannot sum up the mystery, power, and beauty
of the universe. To begin to understand the wonder of the universe, one must view it
through the lens of the unaided eye rather than the lens of the calibrated telescope in
order that it may reflect on the soul and reveal a glimmer of its meaning.
 A romantic—that is, poetic or imaginative—perspective can yield a deeper
appreciation of a subject than a scientific perspective can. 
 Cold, hard facts can obscure deep meanings of an observed phenomenon. 

 Scientific calculation can quantify and measure the components and makeup of
beautiful objects but cannot fathom their allure; only romantic musing can do that. 
 Astronomy can analyze the electromagnetic radiation of a moonbeam; poetry can
analyze the dreamy effect of a moonbeam on the human heart.
 Science is invaluable as a tool to help us understand the complexities of the universe.
But we must guard against allowing it to indurate us to the wondrous beauty of
nature.
 The Second Theme:

A person must sometimes separate himself from the

crowd to experience life and the cosmos from a different
perspective. He must become an individual, a
nonconformist, willing to abandon the herd to roam freely
in open pastures. In the last three lines of the poem, the
speaker does so. When he wanders alone in the mystical
moist night-air, he looks up but does not see the wonders of
celestial mechanics, astrophysics, or uranometry; he sees
stars.
 Free Verse

 Whitman wrote the poem in free verse—also

called vers libre, a French term. Free verse generally
has no metrical pattern or end rhyme. However, it
may contain patterns of another kind, such
as repetition. 
 Repetition of Words

 For example, the first four lines of "When I Heard the

Learn'd Astronomer" all begin with the same word,
constituting a figure of speech known as anaphora. 
 Repetition of Parallel Structure

 In addition, the poem builds a syntactical pattern, parallel structure, in the

following groups of words:
 the proofs, the figures (line 2) 
the charts and diagrams (line 3) 
add, divide, and measure (line 3) 
tired and sick (line 5) 
rising and gliding (line 6)
 Repetition of Sounds

 Finally, the poem repeats similar sounds: heard, learn'd, heard; lectured,
lecture, perfect; room, soon; rising, gliding, time, time, silence. Notice, too,
the alliterations in the last two lines: mystical moist and silent . . . stars. 
 .When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
(Line 1 ~ Line 4) 

This word may carry a

 When I heard the learn'd astronomer,  hint of sarcasm.

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, 

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

measure them, 

When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured

with much applause in the lecture room, 

 Structure (Line 1 ~ Line 4)

 Lines 1 to 4  consist of four subordinate clauses that

establish the situation in which the speaker (narrator)
finds himself.

The first of the four subordinate "when" clauses in the first

half is relatively short. The second is longer than the first,
the third longer than the second, and the fourth longer
than the third—perhaps to reflect the growing complexity
of the astronomer's explanation, which makes the speaker
"tired and sick."
 .When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
(Line 5 ~ Line 8) 

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, 

Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, 

This phrase may be intended to contrast with
the coldly factual dryness of the lecture. 

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

As the adage suggests, silence speaks
louder than words (of the lecturer). 

Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

 Structure (Line 5 ~ Line 8)

 Lines 4 to 8 consist of a main clause followed by a

subordinate clause with a compound verb (wander'd,
look'd). Lines 4 to 8 present the speaker's response to the
situation presented in Lines 1 to 4.

Line 4 to 8, on the other hand, are short by comparison

—the last line being the shortest in this section of the
poem—perhaps to reflect the simplicity of the speaker's
approach to appreciating and understanding the stars.
 Study Questions

Q1: What was Walt Whitman's attitude toward science?  

Q 2: Why does the speaker say “I became tired and sick”?

 Calamus Section:
Live Oak, with Moss.
I

Not the heat flames up and consumes,

Not the sea-waves hurry in and out,
Not the air, delicious and dry, the air of the ripe summer, bears
lightly along white down-balls of myriads of seeds, wafted,
sailing gracefully, to drop where they may, 
Not these—O none of these, more than the flames of me,
consuming, burning for his love whom I love—O none, more
          than I, hurrying in and out;
Does the tide hurry, seeking something, and 
          never give up?—O I, the same, to
          seek my life-long lover;
O nor down-balls, nor perfumes, nor the high
          rain-emitting clouds, are borne through
          the open air, more than my copious
          soul is borne through the open air,
          wafted in all directions, for friendship,
          for love.—
 II

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,

All alone stood it, and the moss hung down
          from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there,
          glistening out with joyous leaves of
          dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made
          me think of myself;
But I wondered how it could utter joyous
          leaves, standing alone there without its
          friend, its lover- -For I knew I could
          not;
And I plucked a twig with a certain number
          of leaves upon it, and twined around it
          a little moss, and brought it  away —
          And I have placed it in sight in my
          room,
 III

It is not needed to remind me as of my 

          friends, (for I believe lately I think of 
          little else than of them,) 
Yet it remains to me a curious token -  it 
             makes me think of manly love, I write          these  

          pieces and name them after it ; 

For all that, and though the treelive oak 

          glistens there in Louisiana, solitary in a 
          wide flat space, uttering joyous leaves 
          all its life, without a friend, a lover, 
          near - I know very well I could
 VI

This moment as I sit alone, yearning and

          pensive, it seems to me there are other
          men, in other lands, yearning and
          pensive.
It seems to me I can look over and behold
          them, in Germany, France, Spain—Or
          far away in China, ^India, or in
          Russia—talking other dialects,
And it seems to me if I could know those
          men better I should love them as I love
          men in my own lands;
It seems to me they are as wise, beautiful,
          benevolent, as any in my own lands;
O I know think we should be brethren—I
          knowthink I should be happy with
          them.
 IX

I am indifferent to my own songs—I am to 

          go with him I love, and he is to go 

          with me, 

It is to be enough for each of us that we are 

          together—We never separate again. -

 Criticism

 In "Whitman's 'Live Oak with Moss'" (an essay

reproduced on this site) Alan Helms talks about
Whitman as a man who had "come out as America's
first self-identified 'homosexual.'“
 The poet himself developed a rich terminology to
describe love between men, and we do well to follow
his lead in opting for terms such as "manly love,"
"calamus love," "adhesiveness" and the like. These
terms do not prohibit one from concluding that
Whitman engaged in genital sexuality with his lover,
but neither do they require that conclusion.