The 2009-2010 SECME theme is "Igniting Minds Through STEM Education." As you read the two poems below, contrast the poet of "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" with the poet of "Sky." Which poet has a mind ignited by STEM education?
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned 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 wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
Poet: Walt Whitman (Books by Walt Whitman)
Poem: 5. When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer.
Volume: Leaves of Grass - 15. Songs of Parting
Year: Published/Written in 1900
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Sky
See the wonders of the sky--wondrous sky!
Astronomic marvels everywhere do meet the eye!
They are waiting, waiting, waiting
for us just to take a glance,
And behold them in their splendor,
Filled with awe that they engender,
as we gaze in dreamlike trance;
And we stare, stare, stare
through the icy winter air,
And are dazzled at the glory
of the heav'nly inventory
Of the sky, sky, sky, sky, sky, sky, sky--
At the heav'nly inventory of the sky.
See the mighty galaxies--galaxies!
Twinkling at us shyly through the branches of the trees.
How they shimmer, shimmer, shimmer
(or it so appears to us),
But their distance is enormous,
So astronomers inform us:
Some, a billion light-years plus.
But they shine, shine, shine,
with a radiance benign,
That belies the brilliant, blinding,
awful glare that we'd be finding,
Were we near, near, near, near, near, near, near--
The glare that we'd be finding, were we near.
Think about exploding stars--dying stars,
Throwing through the heavenlies their luminescent scars.
See them glimmer, glimmer, glimmer
with a wispiness of light
From their tendrils filamental
Made from gases elemental
in the darkness of the night,
Reaching out, out, out,
on their interstellar route
Leaving light-years far behind them
where the gravity confined them
In the stars, stars, stars, stars, stars, stars, stars--
In the fusion-heated centers of the stars.
Or think about our neighborhood--our neighborhood!
We have asteroids and planets to explore (and yes, we should).
They are spinning, spinning, spinning
as they orbit 'round the sun,
And their paths, which are elliptic,
All are close to the ecliptic
As they make their annual run.
They go round, round, round,
Yet, in vacuum, make no sound,
But continue their rotation,
their precession and nutation
Through the years, years, years, years, years, years, years--
They continue their rotation through the years.
Poet: David Arns
Poem: Sky
Volume: March 1998 issue of "The New Zealand Science Monthly", March/April 1999 issue of "Quantum Magazine".
Year: 1997
