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 6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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 6. What is the theme (the central idea) of this poem? Can you state it in a single sentence? Elaborate on your idea.

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The experience of the narrator throughout the poem teaches the significance and joy of learning nature at firsthand; "When the proofs... were ranged in columns before me... When I heard the astronomer where he lectured... How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick," Here, the narrator's experience reveals how borish and weary learning in a formal setting actually is. The narrator soon wanders out of class, then finds himself admiring the "mystical" nightly setting. He eventually finds himself more composed and at peace with nature. The poem reveals that rather than learning nature through a secondary source, it is much more exciting to experience nature by oneself.

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1. What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic?

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1. What is the poem’s tone? Which words reveal this tone? Is the poem ironic?

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The first half of the poem reveals a repetitive, tedious, and dull tone. "When I heard the learn'd... When I was shown the charts and diagrams... How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick." Whitman uses negative words such as "tired and sick" and "When I"s to create repetition that creates a tedious and dreading feeling.
The remaining half of the poem's tone changes to feelings of admiration and tranquility by  transcendent phrases such as "mystical moist night air" and " Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars."

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 4. What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?

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 4. What figures of speech are used? How do they contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem?

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Whitman uses several figures of speech to contribute to the tone and meaning of the poem; one of them being irony. The poem employs irony in its contrast between the dry, academic presentation of the astronomer and the natural beauty of the stars and the night sky. The astronomer's lecture is described as a "lecture-room," which is a sterile and formal setting, while the night sky is described as "mystical" and "shimmering." This irony serves to highlight the limitations of scientific knowledge and a celebration of the unbridled beauty of nature. The overwhelming charts and diagrams, the flowing movement of the speaker's escape, and the contrast between the sterility of the lecture hall and the beauty of the natural world all work together to convey the idea that there is more to life than the accumulation of facts and data.

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 3. What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem?

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 3. What images does the poet use? How do the images relate to one another? Do these images form a unified pattern (a motif) throughout the poem?

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The poem uses a number of images to convey the sensation of being overpowered by the scientist's technical expertise. To illustrate the factual and analytical nature of the lesson, he initially employs the image of "numbers, figures, columns, and charts." The "mystical, moist night-air" outside the lecture hall, which symbolizes the natural world and its beauty, is contrasted with this. These pictures are all related to one another because they show two opposing sides of human experience: the rational and analytical on the one hand, and the intuitive and emotional on the other. Throughout the poem, this motif of juxtaposing scientific and emotional understanding serves as a unifying theme. A deeper, more intuitive understanding of the cosmos that cannot be fully grasped through scientific analysis is suggested by the speaker's experience of becoming overwhelmed by the technical aspects of the presentation and seeking the natural world.