88. WALT WHITMAN: When I heard the learn’d astronomer
This is the second Walt Whitman poem I’ve adapted (click here for the first).
Lately I’ve been so distracted, stressing over all the little details of this site that I was losing sight of the reason why I’m doing this in the first place. Spending so much time on the site design, answering emails, finding quotes, filing paperwork and all the other peripheral details that drawing the actual comics became just another item to check off my to-do list. I needed to take a moment to ‘look up in perfect silence at the stars’ and remind myself that creating comics comes first, that I’m doing this for the love of cartooning and everything else comes second. It’s also another reason I decided to decrease my updates to once a week so I can enjoy making one great comic per week instead of killing myself over two.
Also, I know there are quite a few students out there who visit this site, so this one’s for you.
- Thanks to David for submitting this. This poem also appeared in my favourite TV show at the moment, Breaking Bad. You can watch one of the characters reciting it here. Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass (his seminal collection where this poem is taken from) plays quite a big role in the series.
- Download Leaves of Grass for free at Project Gutenberg.
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Very Nice Comic!, Sometimes we don’t want to think in anything and just need some time to relax… Is really helpful to do exactly what is illustrated in the comic, just forget about everything else, don’t think, be blank. Everything else just flows the way it haves to
.
Funny–I had always pictured this as a public lecture, rather like a Chautauqua presentation, and not a classroom setting with grades.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem and comic. I just recently failed my CPA board exam here in the Philippines and have been trying to find something inspiring to share with my fellow friends who share my situation. I was so focused on the exam that I kinda forgot what was the reason I am taking the exam all along. I have been following this site since I found it on 9gag. God bless and more power to you Sir. Will be looking out to your next post. =)
Med student from the US here. Love your site, love this comic. I haven’t looked up at the stars for a long time, but I’ll certainly try to do so tonight. Thanks!
Well, I expect the learn’d astronomer goes out and looks at the stars in much the same way from time to time. He was not content to stop with, “Wow, look at them pretty lights.”
I love this one. It inspires me. Thanks a lot.
I couldn’t place where I’d heard/read this before until I read the BrBa mention in the fine print. Keep up the great work as you see fit to release it, oh that reminds me of a good quote: “A man’s got to know his limitations” – Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry Callahan (“Magnum Force”)
Man, why make the poem sound like an ode to ignorance? The difference between an astronomy student and some other is that the former can only see the “pretty lights”, as Tudza finely described, while the latter can see them, through all that boring tedious math, as so much more.
True, not one of uncle Walt’s finest moments, and not one of ZP’s either.
I think the point is not that science is boring, it’s that we have to step back and see the full picture. I personally believe it is an awesome quote and one of ZP’s finest moments.
Interpretations. The drawing does not help your case, though.
Are you always this much of a elitist douche?
It’s not an insult to the academics.
And poetry is all about interpretation. There is no ‘one right answer’.
If you want to interpret it like an elitist douche, and people point out another viewpoint, have the courtesy of not continuing to act like a douche in further replies.
Interpretations: Kind of the point of poetry. As a scientist and science teacher, and a lover of poetry, this is actually my favorite Walt poem. It reminds me to step away from the numbers every now and then, and appreciate nature in a more subtle peaceful way. Of course I see the beauty in the numbers and figures as well, but sometimes one needs to ‘from time to time look up in perfect silence at the stars’.
One of my favorites in a while! Appreciate this one from so many angles – as a teacher, a student, and a Whitman fan. Thank you for this site.
At first I didn’t get the full meaning of the comic (idiot me). But it clarified after reading your text. And that’s the sens I really needed by now.
Thank you again, good sir.
That was beautiful, I’ve read David H. Levy and a few other scientists but it’s always nice to get outside and just to look for one’s self at the night sky. Of course sometimes I hear “Great big Universe” from the Animaniacs, but that helps me to remember that we are here for a reason. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DufMJosYmJs
Thank you!
School should teach us to wonder, not to tear stuff apart to see how it works.
Even better is to learn how to wonder how it works.
I think the point of the comic was rather to remind us why we’re tearing stuff apart in the first place…
“Tearing stuff apart” often reveals even more wonderful things like DNA, crystals and rods and cones. An interesting book has been written about this Called “Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, delusion and the appetite for wonder.” http://goo.gl/e8rxE
Love your comics but today I liked more the text under it. Very well said. I was feeling the same way today and you put it perfectly. I need to think that way too, I do it for the pleasure. Thank you.
I don’t understand why so many other of these comics were all about how great science is, and this one is about how hard and boring it is. In all honesty every scientist-especially the astronomers-which have been quoted before all look up in the sky and are filled with awe and wonder. However, instead of just looking at the “pretty picture” and being incapable of seeing anything more, they can appreciate the night sky for what it really is.
This comic wasn’t made to illustrate how hard and boring science is. Yes, Whitman laments on the dryness of it, and how the subjects in his poem seem to have forgotten about this bigger picture he’s painting here, but he’s setting a false dichotomy here that really is the same thing. People in these sciences are probably the ones that appreciate it the most, since they’re the ones that’s devoted all their time looking at these things.
It’s easy to denounce the scientists as those who submerge themselves under figures and columns but really, who else but them see the biggest picture?
Science boring? God no. I’m a theoretical physicist. It’s a kind of work you always take home with you. At any given time of any given day, I am twice the person I was before. I don’t worry about things I can never proof or directly affect, this keeps me from mongering. And every little thing in life that happens I understand, all the little things I see, I see for what they actually are, how they work, how they work deep down to the most elemental observing level, and at the same time I can see and understand them to a cosmic level. Remember the comic about a quote of Henry Rollins in June. I used it once in a blog, without additional text; http://extraordinarylivesofbison.blogspot.dk/2012/07/beautiful.html?m=1
It didn’t need any text, I understand exactly what it means. I am at all times, a day in my life seems like weeks for others. Sure it is sadness too, and real hard times aswell. But god am I alive! And I would have never got so far if it wasn’t for the stuff in quantum mechanics, and the methods I learned from physics. Science is boring, it is dangerously invigorating.
*Science isn’t boring, it is dangerously invigorating!
I guess I worded that comment weird, so sorry for the confusion. I was trying to say that I am annoyed by this poem because it seems to dismiss science, the things being taught by the astronomer would have been fascinating but the narrator refuses to see it. So instead he lays down in the field and looks at the starts without thinking about what he is seeing. I am finishing up my BS in geology and am about to move on to a PhD in planetary science, I very much think science is fascinating and look forward to many of my classes. I just always felt that this poem was anti-science (use of the word mystical, sick of the lecture) and I really don’t find it inspiring. Unlike some of the great quotes this comic has picked up from scientists in the past, the Feyman, Sagan, Einstein, or Plait quotes I really like, but I’m just not a fan of this one.
Well Whitman was of course a 19th century humanist. You can’t expect him to know too much. Then again, it is also a period thing. A lot less was know about science those days. A LOT less. It wasn’t as great a marvel as it is now. It was actually a boring day, it was the turn of the century that changed that.
Dude nice comic
, thanks for sharing it with us 
, and you are totally right….constantly remind yourself why are you doing this. The passion and pleasure to do something should be our top priority 
and after that all the side stuff we need to do.
Your comics are great, keep up the good work my friend >:D<
Have a great day
As a future Astronomy student, this comic really hits close to home – sometimes it feels like I’m drowning in a sea of formulas and all kinds of abstract things, which can make us forget why we’re studying these things in the first place. But then it’s all about looking up in perfect silence at the stars. The night sky gives us only a little glimpse of all the beauty that our Universe has, and I’m determined to try to understand at least a little bit of it.
Besides being an Astronomy enthusiast I’m also a comic artist, so your work is incredibly inspirational to me. It’s wonderful to know that you’re doing what you love, and your love for these comics really shows in what we see. Thank you.
Thanks Coni, good luck with your future studies!
This sounds oddly familiar… Thursdays are my longest days. I start with an 8am lab and end with a lecture at 6pm. The load of information intake those days is sometimes too much to bear. So after class I take a run to our arboretum, I climb a hill and watch the sky as night falls upon it. Really one of my favorite parts of my week.
Wow, it’s like I drew your life
Wow. Just. WOW!
Lately, I have been feeling as if I had chosen the wrong course to take in college, what with my yearly failing subjects, academic backlog, and the fact that I no longer feel like I am having fun here, and that most of the time, I dread going to my classes. I guess, what I am trying to say is that, this comic summarizes my feelings about college life wonderfully, and that I too need to just take a break, and look at the silent stars for a while.
Sounds like a plan Hirokazu, hope you find some clarity
“The problem with you scientists is that you take the wonder and beauty out of everything by trying to analyze it.”
http://xkcd.com/877/
Is it me, or you actually drew a hint of eyes, nose, and smiley lips on the moon there?
To everyone criticizing this…
You don’t need to know all the formulas and charts to truly understand, to get a sense of scale and the magic that is the universe, from looking up at the stars.
You mentioned that you drew this partly for all of us students out there, so I have to admit that I didn’t even read that until about an hour after I first read the comic, because I walked away immediately after reading this, and lay outside watching the stars. And they were beautiful tonight. So thank you. This one really hit home for me.
Hope you can still find that time you want to go and gaze at the stars, Gav.
A comment like this makes it all worthwhile
I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS. Just yesterday night I saw that episode on Breaking Bad and today morning this is in my inbox! Wow, just wow. Great work too, Gavin.
Crazy coincidence
Too bad, there are few visible stars here. Stupid light pollution.
Yes, it is important to slow down and see the stars.
To me, this poem isn’t saying that science or hard work is bad. It is saying that we can sometimes get so caught up in something, even something that we initially loved, that we lose sight of the bigger picture. We forget why we are doing something in the first place. We begin to resent what we are doing, and slack off.
But when we step back and look again at what we are doing in the grand scheme of things, then doing the hard things, the little things and the downright boring things becomes much easier and we remember why we enjoyed it in the beginning.
I like to think the guy in the comic went back the next time and aced the next test. Because he wants to learn what makes the night sky amazing.
Thanks for all the great feedback. I wasn’t knocking science in any way (you all know I LOVE science). My interpretation is simple: When you get overwhelmed, step back and remember what inspired you in the first place.
SO happy for you that you have been re-united with your inspiration! I totally need to be reminded of the same right now, and I super appreciate it. GREAT TIMING!
I haven’t heard this one from WW before but I have to say, this was GREAT timing. I’m so disenfranchised with college right now and I just can’t wait till it’s over and have to constantly remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing. Another one to hit home! :]
–love from the US
Just wanted to say, as a professional astronomer, we have those moments too. We call them “taking a Bok moment”, after Bart Bok, who would take his students out to just look at the stars whenever they would get bogged down in work. I’ve taken a few myself.
Thanks for the info, nice to know astronomers actually have a term for it!
this is a cool term! glad I saw your comment.
Hey Gav,
Just want to say you are doing great and happy that you are taking the lesson from your quote =)
Often time, I lose sight of why I am doing something when i am too focus on just the “doing” so this quote totally resonate with me.
Keep it going buddy!
Brian
hey Gav,
I was glad to find out that you reduced the production….
I do love receiving your mails and enjoy coming to the site everyday and sharing with friends and thought of myself as a mere “consumer” of your art, which in a way is not entirely incorrect, but I wanted to have time to digest it… really appreciate it.
Good decision man!
(I am learning from it)
Hey Gav
Your stuff is always so beautifully put, but this one was the right quote for the right time…
Thanks for thinking about the students! We love your work!
this is my favorite as of now. tomorrow, we’re having physics exam and I seem to be very focused in acing it but forgot the very reason why I’m doing. Now I just realized that I should study because I love physics and I’m very interested in this field. I will study tonight with passion not with anxiety about the long exam. the timing is perfect! GOOD JOB AGAIN!
The “in the mystical moist night-air” cell is beautiful! Great quote – it’s human nature to fill our brains up with so much crap, think that we are so smart and then walk around and miss everything. We need to open our eyes and look around – awesome!!
Glad to hear you are not attempting to line up inspiration with timelines as much. I believe you should release them when you release them – not even commit to a regular day. In addition to the release of self imposed pressure you will keep you fans guessing and coming back more often.
One’s right way may be another’s wrong way. I personally do not understand the maths behind GTR but the predictions and postulates of GTR still fill me with awe. There is a place for everyone in this universe.
I see myself in this cartoon. I am a student from India. I love chemistry. But my grades suddenly crashed one day. I lost my passion for the subject, and school became miserable. I soon realized that brooding over grades makes life just more miserable, and started focusing more on the subject itself. Everything soon fell into place.
I love all of your cartoons, and regularly visit your website. They help me very much when I am a little worried, or sad.
Thank you, man.
I’m in university right now, at a day as bleak as could be having already done the 6 hours of lectures I’m passionate about (some of them thanks to you) and now waiting for the next 5 (yes 11hrs) I don’t care about so much.
But this was a beacon of light that brightened up my day of physics and social-economy.
I’ve just been lurking so far, altough some of your adaptions really almost urged me to leave a comment.
PS:
it’s good you rearranging your time, rest is necessary and in your case I believe well earned.
Thanks for the comment Charles. 11hrs??? Wow, that’s intense
That’s only Tuesday though, other days arent as tough.
Hallelujah brother! You don’t need to understand something, just gape at it and hail its power! In fact, its Sacrilege to try to understand anything that the all mighty has created!
My favorite Walt Whitman poem “I think I could turn
and live with animals” is worth a poster:
I think I could turn
and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contained;
I stand and look at them
long and long.
They do not sweat and whine
about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark
and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick
discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied
not one is demented
with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another,
nor to his kind that lived
thousands of years ago;
Not one is respectable
or industrious
over the whole earth.
This student appreciates it! Haha
Hey, I love your works, waiting for each of your pieces every week. Btw, can I request a quote from Muhammad? Many people say he’s a great person
Dude, your work is pretty awesome. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Do what you love and have fun with it.
I check out your website every couple weeks and always enjoy the new comics. Thank you.
This is my favorite Walt Whitman poem. As a scientist and science teacher, it reminds me that there is room to have balance in one’s life. For me, it reminds me to step back and appreciate the beauty of nature just as it is. Of course I appreciate the numbers and figures, AND I find them beautiful, which is why I am a scientist, but my mind is often in a hurry to analyze, even when stargazing. Many people see this poem in black and white and as an attack on science. I do not see it this way. Thanks for bringing your art into my life!
So beautiful! Great work Gavin, please keep doing what you love
because I love it too.
you know, maybe im having same problem as yours.
im starting to forget why im study in the first place
this comic really invigorating
yours site is making my day really
what you are doing is brave. I imagine me doing this and I must admit i find it very hard to creatively interpret and imagine some of the quotes that you have done.
I like how you usually interpret the quotes in a non-literal way. Brings the idea up another level of abstraction, which is what makes your comics appealing.
Not this.
sometimes just showing words visually is an interpretation in its self
I think this post by Phil Plait
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/10/22/from-here-to-infinity/
summarizes my opinion regarding this comic.
I check this site daily and this is probably one of my favorites. I’m currently attending CU Boulder so when things get too stressful I always have the option of just hiking on up into the mountains
The point is that you don’t (shouldn’t) need all the small, fine details to appreciate the intricate beauty of the stars and your being able to see them with nothing bur your eyes.
I am literally in tears. This is especially applicable to me since I took up a Physics course almost solely because I love the stars, but I’m still failing.
Maybe it really is time to find a course I’m more made for.
“I needed to take a moment to ‘look up in perfect silence at the stars’ and remind myself that creating comics comes first, that I’m doing this for the love of cartooning and everything else comes second. ”
Can really relate at this moment. I’m at a new job I am not very happy with and I’m taking the time to step back and reprioritize, see the big picture and envision my work and myself.
Your work really speaks to me. Thank you.
There is a funny parody on this poem by Scott Aaronson.
When I Heard the Learn’d Poet
by Scott Aaronson
When I heard the learn’d poet,
When the Freudian symbolism, the Biblical allusions, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the themes and styles, to analyze, categorize,
and criticize them,
When I sitting heard the poet where she 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 rational dry night-air, and dropped my copy of Leaves of Grass off a cliff,
And correctly predicted that it would hit the ground in 3.82 seconds.
[Taken from : http://www.scottaaronson.com/writings/whitman.html
Thank you. I love this. It is sublime.
wonderful wonderful wonderful.
Very nicely done.
Whitman’s poetry is generally classified as part of the Romantic school. The Romantics were to a large degree anti-science, anti-reason, anti-logic. In fact, the German Romantic poet Novalis said: “Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” The Romantics valued emotion, feeling, instinct, belief, love, unmediated interactions with life. They saw science trying to turn everything into formulae, to dissect, to impose order, to explain when no explanations were necessary. The learn’d astronomer sees the stars and thinks, How, Why, Where, How much, How can this be explained and predicted, How can this be quantified? Whitman and the Romantics were saying STFU and just enjoy the beauty, feel the power.