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Demystifying poetry
Introduction
Poets and poetic artist create meaning in life through their poems and the flow of ideas.
The diction that the poet chooses to capture in his or her works carries the heaviest meaning in
the context and setting of the poem. Thus it is worth noting that demystifying poetry help in
gaining a deep insight in understanding the intentions of the poet. The following poems will be
the case study of the discussion paper; When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by Walt
Whitman, On the Beach at Night Alone" by Walt Whitman, She's Leaving Home, Wonderful,
We Wear the Mask, and I'm Nobody, Who are You? Thus this paper attempt to analyze the
poems listed above to give a personal understanding of the thoughts conveyed in the poems.
a) When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" by Walt Whitman
The architecture of the poem is in two major parts. The first part is made up of the first
four lines, while the second part is made up of the last four lines. The point Walt Whitman is
attempting to bring out clearly is the relationship between classroom learning and real-life
experiences. His choice of words takes good care of his thoughts because the two parts clearly
articulate his main idea. Going through the poem, it is pointed out that Whitman got bored with
the lecture on stars and mathematical calculations by the astronomer and moves out to have a
look at the stars. The rhetoric that comes forth is whether there is a difference between academic
learning and experiential learning. After looking at the stars, the persona realizes that the
experience out there is not the same as the one in class. That is why the speaker asserts that

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regardless of the levels of learning a teacher could be, learning by experience is the best way to
offer learning experiences.
The poem is symbolic given what the astron...