For a young poet, reading whitman is sheer revelation, sheer wonder, a delight bordering on, then plunging into disbelief. how could all this have come to pass? . . these countless images of daily life, of common life made uncommon, and the most boldly uncommon made jarringly intimate?

this is best reflected in “when i heard the learn’d astronomer,” when
whitman hears the astronomer’s lecture
whitman looks at charts and diagrams
whitman becomes tired and sick and wanders off
whitman goes out at night and looks at the stars