Life Outside of the Classroom
Have you ever found yourself sitting in a classroom staring out the window longing to take a breath of fresh air? The teacher's words morph into a jumble of nothing as you dream of standing in an open field, wind blowing through your hair. Suddenly, the bell rings and you are able to close the school books, shove open the heavy door barring you from the outside world and explore life beyond the classroom. All the stress and rules from the school day vanish as nature greets you with open arms. In the poem, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, Walt Whitman uses diction to reject formal education and welcome natural exploration. As an astronomer gives a lecture which pleases the majority of the audience, the
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Although applause fills the room, “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,/… I became tired and sick”(2-6). Whitman's word choices allow the reader to understand his feelings towards the lecture hall. The painstaking plethora of words used to reference the teaching instruments such as, ‘proofs’, ‘figures’, ‘columns’, ‘charts’ and ‘diagrams’ describes a constricted environment. Furthermore, the selection of calculated words including ‘ranged’, ‘add’, ‘divide’ and ‘measure’ suggests the tedious aspect of schoolwork. Whitman quickly concludes that all of this contributes to the student feeling ill. Romantics have similar views for they believe education corrupts minds. In fact, they believe that too much emphasis on education disconnects people from nature. Accordingly, the student in the poem progresses out of the classroom into the world so loved by Romantics when “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”(7-9). The author’s description of the night as ‘mystical’ and the silent stars as ‘perfect’ allows readers to picture a peaceful