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 the 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.
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If you didn't like this read you should try William Wordsworth "The Tables Turned" It has the same message but it's not in free verse.
The message of this poem is that science is a great tool for learning, but you lose sight of the big picture sometimes. Once in a while you have to just look at the stars to appreciate what's really going on. -
Wow, I think almost everyone missed the point of this poem, except for maybe Rick James up there.
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I think this is one Charlie Murphy of a poem. I see Walt Whitman all the time after smoking my crack. Peace out, Superfreak
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Quaint. That's all I have to really say about this piece. Just states he learned about Astronomy and then at night he looks up at the stars and stands in perfect silence gazing at the things in which he learned.
As I said: Quaint.
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I felt that 'sick' feeling of non understanding when faced with reading this piece, as you say Andrew, it doesn't read easily. It was a relief to get past all the jargon and out and breath the fresh air too.
Edited on May 30, 12:46 because ''. -
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i read Castoneda and
wondered how much of it was true,
how much his experience while
dwelling upon those passages
where he flies
flies chained ,
(by some intermediary substance,and
the structure
of an old, clever, man's words),
to a molecule along the momentum
of a rushing river
to places thousands of miles away and
i puzzled at the familiarity,
the vagaries
of what exactly rang true.
i read that Chaos Theory novel and
marvelled at the latticework it revealed,
of fractal edges and gradual progressions -
a silent fugue of impossible
yet infinite divisions,
their unreasonable reality overcome
by mere mundanity.
i had a thought, i saw a vision.. felt
th presence,( more than twice)
of reality's flaring edge and i now see all
of existence via the spaces.in.between.
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To me, I found this piece lacking in flow. I thoroughly enjoyed the subject and message, for a short piece it's jam packed with poetic devices which work well in each line, but, to me, they didn't help with the smooth reading of the poem as a whole.
One to return to at another time to consider.
Andrew
Edited on May 28, 1:35 p.m. because ''. -
Ah, existential nausea....it gets us all from time to time. When we contemplate the utter insignificance of the visions that loom large in our minds.....
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