Adler Planetarium Astronomy Museum, Art Institute of Chicago
When I Heard the Learn'd 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.
Above is a poem by the American poet,
Walt Whitman. Here, the speaker leaves an astronomy lecture to step outside the
fixed parameters and subsequently, learns first-hand the beauty in viewing the
same firmament of which the lecturer speaks, but viewed simply with the naked
eye, in silence. By leaving the lecture, the speaker has knowledge shared by
the astronomer inside and now enjoys the silent beauty with appreciated knowledge. More importantly, the speaker has appreciation of the significance of the stars’ natural
state.
This poem illustrates iconic realism
in that the subject, constellations in a contrived setting, brings the
audience (the speaker in the poem) to a recognition that education of natural
phenomena directly connects humanity with nature.
I warmly thank the Art Institute of Chicago for purchasing a copy
of my book, The Theory of
Iconic Realism: Understanding the Arts through Cultural Context.
