Time & Brevity
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
From Leaves of Grass
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 much
applause 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.
Cite this poem
MLA
Whitman, Walt. “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/whitman/118/.
Chicago
Whitman, Walt. “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/whitman/118/.
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