Discuss what Whitman is saying about formal and informal learning in "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer."

This poem is a typically Romantic statement concerning education
and science. Key to note is the way that, after hearing the "learn'd astronomer" and his teaching
concerning the planets and stars, the speaker becomes "tired and sick." There is something about
the way in which the astronomer presents "the proofs, the figures" and "the charts, the diagrams"
which kills all mystery or ability to wonder and admire the beauty of creation. Scientifically
reducing such inexplainable wonders as the night sky to a series of "columns" which can be added,
divided and measured, robs the night sky of its mystery and glory. Thus it is that the speaker,
sickened by such a rationalistic attitude towards Nature, needs to go out himself and restore the
wonder of nature by simple appreciation of its beauty:

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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.

Note the comparison between
this approach to the night sky and the one endorsed by the "learn'd astronomer." The speaker is
able to see the night sky as "mystical," obviously revelling in its mysteries and secrets. As
opposed to the speech with which the astronomer dissects the night sky, the speaker looks up in
"perfect silence" at the stars. Learning may be a great thing, Whitman seems to be saying, but
there is a danger of learning extracting all the mystery, pleasure, enjoyment and beauty of the
object that we are learning about if we are not too careful.