Walt Whitman's poem "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer"

Grants | NHPRC | Topics | Arts & Culture | Legacy Project Remote Work (2020-2021) | Special Collections | Poems, Poets, and Poetry | Types | Reading |
August 7, 1993
Walt Whitman - Profiled Subject, Unknown - Reader
Listen: Walt Whitman poem When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer read by Jerry, shooting stars intro
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A reading of Walt Whitman's poem "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer."

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WALT WHITMAN: When I heard the learned 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 much applause in the lecture room, how soon unaccountable I became tired and sick till rising and gliding out. I wandered off by myself in the mystical, moist night air, and from time to time, looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

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