Whitman

I took the Praxis test on Saturday. This is a test I had to take as part of my licensure process. I'm not sure if I passed--cross your fingers for me. I hate timed tests. I always end up running out of time and having to guess on several questions at the end. I actually kinda enjoyed taking this test though, 'cause it had lots of poetry and excerpts from some of my favorite novels...which probably added to my running out of time. Anyway, one of the poems on the test is one of my favorites. Here it is. Free verse has to be the kind of poetry I enjoy most.


When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman

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 wandered off by myself,
in the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
looked up in perfect silence at the stars.