Astronomical Poems - GEORGE BISHOP

Favorite Astronomy Poems No. 4: “Alone and Drinking Under the Moon,” by Li Po

January 12, 2023November 7, 2013

Today’s Favorite Astronomy Poem is the melancholy “Alone and Drinking Under the Moon,” by famed Chinese poet Li Po (or Li Bai). Here’s a picture to put you in the mood:

(Fishing Boat Anchored on a Moonlit Night, by Bai Jin, 1388-1462)

The poet Li Po was born in 701, perhaps in Gansu province, in China. He spent much of his life wandering up and down China, writing poetry, drinking wine, and visiting friends. He won the favor of the Emperor, and when the Emperor was overthrown, he was exiled and sentenced to death. He eventually received an imperial pardon and resumed wandering. Legend has it that Li Po drowned when he reached from his boat to grasp the moon’s reflection in a river.

Chinese children still learn his poems today in school. This one, “Alone and Drinking Under the Moon,” has been translated many times into English. I like this version, by Rewi Alley

Alone and Drinking Under the Moon
by Li Po (Li Bai), 701-762

Amongst the flowers I
am alone with my pot of wine
drinking by myself; then lifting
my cup I asked the moon
to drink with me, its reflection
and mine in the wine cup, just
the three of us; then I sigh
for the moon cannot drink,
and my shadow goes emptily along
with me never saying a word;
with no other friends here, I can
but use these two for company;
in the time of happiness, I
too must be happy with all
around me; I sit and sing
and it is as if the moon
accompanies me; then if I
dance, it is my shadow that
dances along with me; while
still not drunk, I am glad
to make the moon and my shadow
into friends, but then when
I have drunk too much, we
all part; yet these are
friends I can always count on
these who have no emotion
whatsoever; I hope that one day
we three will meet again,
deep in the Milky Way.

Favorite Astronomy Poems No. 3: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

January 12, 2023October 17, 2013

English majors will likely remember No. 3 in our favorite astronomy poems, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” by Walt Whitman.

Here’s a picture of the old scallawag:

Not as pretty as Audrey Hepburn, but a fine writer. He only had formal schooling up until the age of eleven, after which he supported himself with printing and journalism. He made his name as a poet with “Leaves of Grass,” a collection of poems he self-published at age 36, winning praise from Ralph Waldo Emerson, although others condemned his writing for being obscene.

He described himself thusly: “Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest.”

Little known fact: some say Walt Whitman was the original model for “Dracula” in the novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, a long-time admirer of his.

Here’s the poem, from 1865:

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired, and sick,
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.

Favorite Astronomy Poems No. 2: “To the Moon,” by Giacomo Leopardi

January 12, 2023October 5, 2013

No. 2 in our series of poems with astronomical themes is the sad and sweet “To the Moon,” by Giacomo Leopardi, the Italian poet of pessimism (1798-1837). This is from the collected Canti, translated by J. Galassi (2010, New York). I almost used part of this poem as an epigraph for The Night of the Comet.

To the Moon

O graceful moon, I can remember, now
the year has turned, how, filled with anguish,
I came here to this hill to gaze at you,
and you were hanging then above those woods
the way you do now, lighting everything.
But your face was cloudy,
swimming in my eyes, due to the tears
that filled them, for my life
was torment, and it is, it doesn’t change,
beloved moon of mine.
And yet it helps me, thinking back, reliving
the time of my unhappiness.
Oh in youth, when hope has a long road ahead
and the way of memory is short,
how sweet it is remembering what happened,
though it was sad, and though the pain endures!

Favorite Astronomy Poems No. 1: “Halley’s Comet,” by Stanley Kunitz

January 12, 2023September 15, 2013

I kept this poem taped to the wall above my desk while I was writing “The Night of the Comet.”

HALLEY’S COMET
by Stanley Kunitz
(1905-2006)

Miss Murphy in first grade 
wrote its name in chalk 
across the board and told us 
it was roaring down the stormtracks 
of the Milky Way at frightful speed 
and if it wandered off its course
 and smashed into the earth 
there’d be no school tomorrow. 
A red-bearded preacher from the hills 
with a wild look in his eyes 
stood in the public square 
at the playground’s edge 
proclaiming he was sent by God 
to save every one of us, 
even the little children. 
“Repent, ye sinners!” he shouted, 
waving his hand-lettered sign. 
At supper I felt sad to think 
that it was probably 
the last meal I’d share 
with my mother and my sisters; 
but I felt excited too 
and scarcely touched my plate. 
So mother scolded me 
and sent me early to my room. 
The whole family’s asleep 
except for me. They never heard me steal 
into the stairwell hall and climb 
the ladder to the fresh night air. 
Look for me, Father, on the roof 
of the red brick building 
at the foot of Green Street–
that’s where we live, you know, on the top floor. 
I’m the boy in the white flannel gown 
sprawled on this coarse gravel bed 
searching the starry sky, 
waiting for the world to end. 