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Walt Whitman's When I Heard The Learn D Astronomer

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Walt Whitman's When I Heard The Learn D Astronomer
Walt Whitman's’ “When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer” can be interpreted many different ways. This text can be interpreted by the usage of New Historicism. The time period in which the poem was scribed was a time in transcendentalist views were popularized by many prominent authors, including Whitman himself. Transcendentalism is defined as the belief that “knowledge comes through intuition and imagination not through logic or the senses.” In Whitman’s poem the speaker appears to be in a lecture regarding astronomy. After describing his/her current state as “Unaccountable… tired and sick” (5) the speaker walks out of his lecture and wander about gazing at stars. One may assume that the actions of the speaker reflects upon Whitman's beliefs
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