The Great Decision btween Studys and Experiences Sometimes students face the challenge of wanting to explore a thought or lesson on their own. However, majority of the time, they sit in a classroom listening to lectures and doing book-work rather than learning for themselves and through their own experiences. The diction and imagery in “When I heard the learn’d astronomer,” exemplifies the confining feeling of books and second-hand learning; however after the shift, the speaker reveals a deep appreciation of exploring through your own way. He is suggesting that personal experience through heart gives us a better understanding of life’s contents. He shows us this through mind and teachings with explanations, through personal experience, and the difference between both learning in a classroom and learning about what's personal to you.

Whitman received little public acclaim for his poems during his lifetime for several reasons. His openness regarding sex, his self-presentation as a rough working man, and his stylistic innovations.” A poet who “abandoned the regular meter and rhyme patterns” Through diction, the poem reveals the sense of patronizing, structured learning. The speaker illustrates harshness to book learning through compatiblity. In line two he gives a stern sound to it, creating the feeling of stress. This happens again in line five, with “Lecture-room.” This represents a tense setting, a place the speaker does not want to be. The speaker imparts a sense of confinement, using the “Lecture – room,” while adding even more emphasis to it by its capitalization and indentation of its own line.
In the second stanza, the diction changes dramatically, from structured to a whimsical air feeling. The rising and gliding portray a sensual outlook, as the speaker is now more open and free. Whitman wrote this poem in free verse, like most of his other