Poetry Friday--"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"

Walt Whitman wrote some mighty weighty poems. He also, however, wrote others that are remarkable in their simplicity. Here's one of the latter that I particularly like:

When I Heard 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.

I don't believe much commentary is necessary with this one, do you?

Another poem in the same vein is his "A Clear Midnight."

This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, and the stars.

Visit Read Write Believe where Sara has the Poetry Friday Round-Up for this week.

Image courtesy: NASA, ESA, Hubble, R. Sahai (JPL)