Throughout our lifetime we are constantly in a state of acquiring knowledge. In childhood we
             are taught the basics to survival in our modern day society, our teachers prepare us. Unfortunately, the
             tools we use in our journey cannot be obtained through someone else's teachings. As we progress
             through life we are faced with many trials and tribulations, but through these we come to comprehend
             the important values and necessities we need to succeed in our world. Walt Whitman's poem "When I
             Heard The Learn'd Astronomer" demonstrates this fact of life through many different means. He is
             suggesting that personal experience through heart gives us a better understanding of life's contents. He
             shows us this through mind and teachings with explanations, through heart and personal experience, and
             Many of us have different methods of learning, maybe we excel through visual means, some
             through verbal means, but just because we hear something doesn't necessarily mean we have learned
             from it, nor does it mean we have understood what has been said. Many of us find ourselves staring into
             space daydreaming, allowing the words that are supposed to educate us to pass through one ear and out
             the other. A perfect example of this can be seen in the title of the poem as well as in the first line
             "When I Heard The Learn'd Astronomer" we can see that the word "heard" is used to describe that he
             does in fact hear the words of the astronomer but in this statement another meaning emerges. The
             secondary meaning cannot be easily discovered. A perfect example of one listening but the words
             remaining nothing but a scramble of sounds. Through our task of acquiring knowledge we face many
             barriers, problems that seem to plague our path. Many of us look at our learning experience in different
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