When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

Original Text
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1891-92): 214. PS 3201 1891 Robarts Library.
1When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
2When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
3When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
4When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
5How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
6Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
7In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
8Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
Publication Start Year
1865
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme