Academy of American Poets
View Cart | Log In 
Subscribe | More Info 
Find a Poet or Poem
Advanced Search >
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Born on May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman is the author of Leaves of Grass...
More >
Want more poems?
Subscribe to our
Poem-A-Day emails.
FURTHER READING
Poems About Science
Catastrophe Theory II
by Mary Jo Bang
Dangerous Astronomy
by Sherman Alexie
On Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics
by W. H. Auden
Science
by Robert Kelly
Scientific Method
by Adam Clay
String Theory Sutra
by Brenda Hillman
The Horrid Voice of Science
by Vachel Lindsay
The Sciences Sing a Lullabye
by Albert Goldbarth
Sponsor a Poet Page | Add to Notebook | Email to Friend | Print

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer

 
by Walt Whitman

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.






Larger TypeLarger Type | Home | Help | Contact Us | Privacy Policy Copyright © 1997 - 2013 by Academy of American Poets.