Two acclaimed twentieth century personalities, Walt Whitman and Helen Keller, had life changing experiences while in the outdoors. Walt Whitman wrote poems about nature and Helen Keller grasped the meaning of her first word while outside.
             Walt Whitman wrote apiece called 'When I heard the learn'd astronomer', which is about his experience in seeking knowledge, only to grow a deeper love for the simplicity of nature. Whitman sat in on a lecture about astronomy. He began to feel unconnected "tired and sick"(5-5) he "rose and wander'd out" (5-6), looked up at the stars, taken away by their simplistic beauty. Whitman's main thought seems to be he disliked scientists because they felt the need to analyze things rather than accept nature for what it is. Traditional education is not needed to appreciate beauty.
             Whitman gets his point across simply by the way he constructed his poem. In the first four lines, when he's in the lecture hall, every line starts with a 'when', and the sentences are long, and drawn out. As soon as he, away from the scientific talks do you get the feeling that he's more relaxed. His lines are shorter and flowing. He's more at ease in the outdoors then cooped up amongst other scientists.
             Whitman uses emotional appeal, he talks about his feelings in the lecture hall, and his feelings after he's left the lecture hall. He feels that he loses himself in the technicalities of chats and diagrams and would rather applaud the Creator of those stars rather then the Astronomer.
             I get the sense that Whitman enjoys the simplicity of nature, and if you slow down and take a look around, nature could teach you more than any acclaimed astronomer could. Which brings me to Helen Keller, a famous American writer whom was struck deaf, blind and dumb by a massive infection at age two. In her autobiography, she describes the first time she understood the meaning of the word 'water'. Miss. Sullivan, her teacher
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