Starfield:The Learn'd Astronomer
From Starfield Wiki
| Book Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ID | 0015DA18 | ||
| Editor ID | EAW_Poem_Note_LearndAstro_m | ||
|
86 | 
|
0.8 |
| Type | Note | ||
The Learn'd Astronomer
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.
[Walt Whitman's When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer, while only one stanza, neatly encapsulates the author's disdain for the scientific overanalysis of nature's beauty.]
