“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman is the recollection of a speaker that attended an astronomer’s lecture only to be bored and leaves the room to enjoy the stars without scientific analyzation hindering their natural beauty. On the other hand, “324” by Emily Dickinson demonstrates the role of nature in the speaker’s personal connection to religion and God instead of attending Church and sermons. Although their topics seem so unlike, the poetic devices within them have both similarities and differences. Whitman’s and Dickinson’s poems bear many differences, including structure, meter, and rhyme, while remaining alike in their use of imagery to convey like attitudes towards traditionalism and nature.
Walt Whitman’s poem, “When
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As the speaker sits in an auditorium, they observe the lecturer’s many notes, “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,” (lines 2-3). This line provides strong visual imagery of complex investigations in astronomy, and a reader can easily imagine a full lecture room with endless notes and charts which aids in providing the mind-numbing mood of the experience. Moreover, the repetitions of what are essentially synonyms in this context make these lines sound like the rambles of the astronomer, contributing to the tone. As the speaker tires of the lecture, he leaves the room and “In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, / Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars” (lines 8-9). Here Whitman again employs imagery to make the night seem appealing and …show more content…
However, Dickinson’s poem is very different from Whitman’s in structure and language. In “324,” the speaker explains how they observe Sabbath, in nature rather than going to a service, when saying “With a Bobolink for a Chorister — / And an Orchard, for a Dome —” (lines 4-5). Dickinson, like Whitman, provides visual imagery; of a bird instead of the Church choir and an orchard instead of the “Dome,” which represents a church. In these lines, readers can envision the beautiful nature scene that the speaker treasures. Furthermore, as Whitman also did, Dickinson uses auditory imagery as the speaker explains further how the spend their Sabbath, “And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church, / Our little Sexton — sings” (lines 8-9). Here, the sounds of the Church’s bell is what the speaker traded for the charming bird’s song in their form of worship. Like Whitman, Dickinson uses imagery to illustrate to readers her preference for nature that connects her to God and religion, unlike for many others who choose to attend church. Moreover, in contrast to Whitman’s poem, Dickinson writes in an abcb rhyme scheme where the second and fourth lines rhyme and have a meter. To demonstrate, every even-numbered line rhymes; Home” and “Dome,” “Wings” and “sings,” “long” and “along.”
Death; termination of vital existence; passing away of the physical state. Dying comes along with a pool of emotions that writers have many times tried to explain. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman were two pioneer poets from the Romantic Era, that introduced new, freer styles of writing to modern poetry at the time. Both Whitman and Dickinson have similar ideas in their writing, but each has a unique touch of expression in their works. Both poets have portrayed death in their poetry as a relief, a salvation, or escape to a better place- another life. They have formulated death as a positive yet ambiguous state. In Dickinson's "Narrow Fellow in the Grass" and Whitman's "Wound-Dresser", there exists a link
Many can relate to Whitman’s poem on a great variety of levels. From taking this course in Solar System Astronomy, students are able to have a glimpse into a college career similar to that of the reader. One can also relate to Whitman’s curiosity and joy upon learning new things, such as how far the Earth is from the Sun, or to telescopes and how they work. Being easily interesting is one thing; being enthralled with curiosity and wonder as Whitman was is completely different.
(Whitman's Civil War Poem's, how they differ, why they differ and where did most of his motivation come from?) Walt Whitman's Civil War Poem's differ from his earlier poems because they were patriotic poems. The book Drum-Taps (W. 1.-1. Whitman) simply explains how lives were changed during the Civil War era. Whitman was able to change the content of his poems and create a whole new audience of readers.
Walt Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” was written in 1865 and published in 1867, in the fourth edition of his collection Leaves of Grass. Throughout this poem, Whitman suggests that nature’s beauty cannot be measured by scientific explanations, mathematical equations, or taught through lectures, but that you have to go and experience it for yourself.
For these works of art are not yet consecrated in their reading; but the poet sees the fall within the great Order not less than the bee-hive or the spider’s geometrical web” (Emerson 4). Whitman effortlessly combines both the mechanical and the natural: The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilot-houses, The white wake left by the passage, the quick tremulous whirl of the wheels, The scallop-edged waves in the twilight, the ladled cups, the frolicsome crests and glistening, The stretch afar growing dimmer and dimmer, the gray walls of the
Before all else, it is crucial to examine the format of each Dickinson poem; this would provide a reader with a baseline of what they should expect while reading and allows them to notice any outliers. Poems such as “I know that He exists” and “Apparently With No Surprise” offer more of a free-flowing structure, similar to a train of thought, in comparison to a more intransigent “‘Faith’ is Fine Invention” or “I Never Saw a Moor”. In the initial two poems, Dickinson is describing her thoughts and a scene in nature, not taking any breaths while doing so. In the latter poems, she shows a more harsh side, where lines are quick, and straight to the point. A particular line that shows urgency is found within “‘Faith is Fine invention”, where Dickinson writes, “But Microscopes are prudent, In an Emergency!”. Of
How are you known? A last name is what defines them, it tells their past. It tells what they should be like in relation to ancestors. When the word amerca comes to mind do you consider it part of you? Walt whitman was a man that was born in New York, he knew what america came from. Whitman wrote a poem called I Hear America Singing. In this poem he tells of citizens doing their job or daily duty while singing America. Later on in history a man named Langston Hughes, he was an African american poet during the Harlem Renissance. This was a time period that allowed Afican Americans Poetry to be taken seriously. Langston wrote a poem that struck the hearts of all people, it is called I, Too, Sing Amerca, this poem expands on how hard Africna Americans had it. They had to take care of everything for their meals, and after all of that they were sent to eat their shares in the kitchen away from everyone. This poem was thought to be a response to whitmans poem. in these poems that have some of the same characteristics, one of which is what people do to be an american, another is the structure or outline of the poem, finally they also explain how proud people are to be an American.
Dickinson’s poetry manifest an ongoing struggle with, and strong aversion to many core tenets of, the Christian religion to which her family and the great majority of her friends and
The diction and imagery in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” exemplifies the imprisoning feeling of learning in a classroom through lectures and books. Through this free verse poem, the speaker discloses an appreciation for exploring on your own outside of a confined space. To start, Whitman begins the poem with specific diction to describe the astronomer “When I heard the learn’d astronomer”, (ln 1). Whitman shortens “learned” to “learn’d” to emphasize the speakers lack of education in contrast to the highly educated astronomer, who teaches with a more structured form of learning rather than the non formal environment the speaker prefers. In addition, Whitman establishes a clear and vivid setting of the learning space, “When I sitting
Nature’s Church In “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” by Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson explains how more fulfilling it is to worship God in someone's own chosen way as opposed to the pressures and discrimination of the church. In this poem by Dickinson she uses pleasant sound, visual, and emotional imagery to combine religion and nature. Dickinson uses sound imagery when she writes, “ Our little sexton-sings”, “...tolling the bell, for church” and “With a Bobolink for a chorister” (8,7,3). Basically, Dickinson is saying the bobolink or the bird is singing and acting as a sexton instead of their being a real sexton that rings the bells of the church. In the same way, Emily Dickinson uses visual imagery in the same way.
While much of Emily Dickinson's poetry has been described as sad or morose, the poetess did use humor and irony in many of her poems. This essay will address the humor and/ or irony found in five of Dickinson's poems: "Faith" is a Fine Invention, I'm Nobody! Who are you?, Some keep the Sabbath Going to Church and Success Is Counted Sweetest. The attempt will be made to show how Dickinson used humor and / or irony for the dual purposes of comic relief and to stress an idea or conclusion about her life and environment expressed by the poetess in the respective poem. The most humorous or ironic are some of the shorter poems, such as the four lined stanzas of "Faith" is a Fine Invention and
The comparison between Walt Whitman and Walter White may seem humorous due to the fact that a man who lives in the Twenty-First Century is surrounded by the technological advances that allowed him to engineer his legacy. Of course, Whitman did not have the technology to create his writings, or distribute his productions as efficiently as White. Or simply humorous because White makes and distributes methamphetamine and Whitman created literature. Despite the differences, Walt Whitman is labeled as an American who changed the game of literature. White, happened to change the game of drugs. Besides having the same name, they both test society. They are both innovators. They both test rules, laws, and norms of society. Both teach and both are striving
Emily Dickinson’s poems are often unique and do not follow any set format. This is true in “I’m Nobody! Who are You?” and “Crumbling is not an instant's Act” for they are distinctive and Dickinson makes no attempt to be similar to anyone else’s poem. What makes Dickinson’s poems different is her unique style and form, for example, she uses short quatrain stanzas paired with loose iambic trimester which sets her apart from other poets. The short quintain stanzas convey Dickinson’s sense simplicity and straightforward messages. Although her messages are presented in a refreshing and distinctive way they still are straightforward relatable messages. Emily Dickinson’s use of loose iambic give her poetry an invigorating rhythm and is a breath of
Payande (2009) compares Whitman's “When I Heared the Learn'd Astronomer” with Sepehri's “Sorah of Watching”. The poets believe that reason is unable to find out the essence of being. Payande pays attention to the similarities rather than the influences, and believes trying to trace influences is useless. The ideas of Sepehri and Whitman are so similar that Stovall's comment on the American poet quoted in the article best fits Sepehri.
Abstract: Walt Whitman and Puran Singh are the two great poets belonging to two different cultures. Whitman inherited western cultural problematic and Puran Singh Eastern Indian and in particular the Punjabi cultural problematic. These two cultures differ from each other in many ways yet one finds a cord of identity both thematic and structural between the poetry of Whitman and Puran Singh. The present study analyzes the nature of mysticism in the poetry of Walt Whitman and Puran Singh and brings out their unique qualities, similarities and differences.