The Knowledge of Human Experience in Walt Whitman and Eavan Boland

The poems "When I Heard a Learn'd Astronomer," by Walt Whitman, and "That the Science of Cartography is Limited," by Eavan Boland, both have very similar messages. These poems assert that science cannot be used to describe nature accurately, and that the only real knowledge can exist in human experience.

In Whitman's poem, the narrator describes going to hear a lecture from a "...learn'd astronomer," (line 1). The narrator is shown proofs, figures and charts, which it is assumed attempt to explain the existence of planets and stars. The narrator becomes "...tired and sick," as a result of this experience, and chooses to leave the lecture to go star-gazing (line 5). The narrator is frustrated; he obviously enjoys nature, which is shown by his choosing to gaze at the stars, and does not want to have nature distilled into facts and figures. He prefers to actually experience nature for himself. Boland explores similar sentiments in his poem "That the Science of Cartography is Limited." He says that "...this shading of/forest cannot show the fragrance of balsam/the gloom of cypresses," (lines 1-4). Like Whitman's narrator, this narrator is dissatisfied with the use of science as representative for natural objects. Boland suggests that nature cannot be accurately portrayed through lines, such as those which make up a map.

Both poems also explore the idea of human experience as reigning superior to science. Whitman's narrator leaves the lecture, preferring to go out and see the stars himself than to listen to the astronomer present them as figures and measurements. Boland describes an interlude between himself and a second person. The two are in the woods in Ireland, and come across an old road. In line 8, the second person explains the history behind it, how it "...was once a famine road." This directly links the narrator with a human experience, an emotional response to a particular place. Even if that road was depicted on a map, it would not produce the same response as actually standing upon it.

These poems also suggest that there is a certain level of knowledge that can only be gained through human experience. Whitman's narrator is enchanted by the night air, calling it "mystical" (line 7). Although a scientist may be able to tell you what that air is made up of, he cannot explain why it has the ability to make you feel certain emotions, whether those emotions are fear, pleasure, etc. By stepping out into the night air yourself, an emotion is evoked, and this gives you personal insight into an emotional existence. In his poem, Boland describes "...the fragrance of balsam," and "the gloom of cypresses," (lines 3-4). Though you may be able to look at a map and see where the balsam and cypress may be, you will not know what they smell like or what mood they evoke unless you actually go to the balsam and the cypress.

Both Whitman and Boland believe that true knowledge of the natural world cannot be gained through science. Although science can help provide a world of physical facts about nature, one has to actively experience the natural world in order to have complete knowledge of it.