Presentation

When I heard the learn’d Astronomer

Context:
When I heard the learn’d Astronomer is a poem written by the American poet and essayist Walt
Whitman, considered to be on the of the most important authors of the 19 th century. This poem
might have been influenced by his rejection as a teacher on high education, this was because
Whitman preferred a more intuitive learning as he opposed to the traditional lecture-based
education. A long most of his poems and essays he included nature and space topics, since he
wanted to transmit his love and different perspective of nature.
Structure:
This is a free verse written poem that consists of 8 verses and 2 stanzas. On the first 4 verses of the
poem, we find repetition of the word “when” at the beginning of each verse. On the second, third
and fourth verse, there is a discussion between the audience and the lecturer about how boring the
astronomy lecture is. Then in the second stanza, he uses a complex language to describe the
astronomers lecture, this by using technical and more elegant language.
Content:
The author includes into his poem a lecturer which stars by giving a scientific lesson about
astronomy, including, charts, numbers, and calculus. This lecture seems to be boring for both the
audience and for the lecturer, that is why he decides to stop the lesson and get out of the place
where he was to get to the outside and experience some mystical feelings when watching at the sky
full of stars.
Language:
A long this poem we can find different language devices, for example:
Repetition:

- Whitman repeats the word “When” in the first half of the poem at the beginning of each
verse. We can see the author uses anaphora to emphasize the heavy astronomy lecture.
Imagery:

- “Perfect silence…”
- “Mystical, moist night air...”
- “Ranged in columns before me…”

Technical language:

- Proofs
- Figures
- Charts
- Diagrams

Tone:
Whitman created a tone that is casual and conversational .
The tone of the poem is of admiration and sickness over the lack of admiration from humans
towards nature.

Mood:

The mood starts with disgust, boredom and confusion and transitions into a mood of epiphany and

peace.

My life as a bat:

Context:
What we know about Margaret is that this essay was written on the XX century, in general she
believes she was a bast on her past life, she even affirms she had had different nightmares in which
she experiences incidents and events that happen when she was a bat.
Content:
A long the essay she includes different part that she uses to divide her arguments about why she was
a bat on her past life. She talks about why she believes in reincarnation; she talks about some
nightmares she had had, and how they are related to her believes about her bat life and as well she
talks about how bats are extraordinary animal.
Structure:
It is an informative essay which is divided in five different parts, where Margaret includes
information, facts, perspective, and opinions about what she thinks of bats.
Language:
Figurative language:
Imagery:

- “There will be the sound of water trickling through limestone.”

- “I’m heading to my home, to my home cave, where it will be cool during the burnout of
day.”
- “This is a desert. The yuccas are in bloom.”

Technical words:

- Sonar
- Subtleties
- Incendiary
- Interlude
 Metaphor:

- “Curse of pity”

Mood and tone:

- Informative and reflective

- Ironic tone (Questions and parodies humans’ behaviors