2025 Student Poetry Contest

Theme: ““When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer By Walt Whitman

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.

Prompt:

In the poem, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Whitman exquisitely wielded free verse to tell the story of a speaker’s experience at a lecture about the stars. As the speaker listened intently to an esteemed astronomer’s scientific analysis of the cosmos, he began to wonder if the use of science to understand nature took away from its magic. After being shown “proofs,” and “figures,” the speaker decided to venture out of the lecture room and into nature to admire the stars in the night sky. Outside, he could interpret the cosmos using his own knowledge and experience.

“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” contains three important themes: 1: The power of wonder, 2: Knowledge gained through study vs. knowledge gained by experience, and 3: Finding beauty in the world around you (in Whitman’s case, through nature).

Whitman both in his poetry and life, sought to wholeheartedly experience the world around him. He immersed himself in the New York art scene, attended operas, supported wounded soldiers in Washington hospitals, and connected deeply to nature during his life’s journey.

In 30 lines or less, use your poetic voice to tell us what you imagine is beyond the stars. Explore your individualized experience with nature. Dive into ways that your experiences have shaped your understanding of the world around you. And, of course, don’t forget to include the contradictions, the oddities, imperfections that are YOU! Good luck!

Submission Deadline:
Saturday, March 15, 2025

Submissions are now closed!

PDF Submission Must be saved: Last name, First Name

Guidelines:
See below.

Awards Ceremony:
Saturday, May 31, 2025, 12:00 noon – 2:00PM at the Birthplace

2024 STUDENT POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

GRAND CHAMPIONS

Category A

1st Calissa Wong, E.M. Baker Elementary School – My Life’s Winding Road

2nd Thomas Yeamans, Mount Sinai Elementary School – Wanderlust

3rd Deepika Joshi, Burns Avenue School – Field of Flowers

Category B

1st Annabel Xu, Barron Park Elementary, Palo Alto, CA – Pictures

2nd Nolan Berry, Tuckahoe Common Middle School– The Southern Road

3rd Daniel Garcia, The Laurel Hill School– Life’s Surprises

Category C

1st Shreya Satpathy, W.T. Clarke Middle School – In Hopes of Finding Myself Once More

2nd Ziya Yin, P.J. Galinas Junior High School – They Call Her Liberty

3rd Stephanie Green, Bay Shore Middle School – A One-Way Journey

Category D

1st Jacob Torczyner, David Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys – Grass

2nd Allen Sinai, Manhasset Secondary School – The Winding Path

3rd William Pereira, Manhasset Secondary School – Arboraceous Wanderer

Category E

1st Jiwan Kim, Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY – 4:00 AM Tuesdays at the Airport

2nd Rina Olsen, St. John’s School, Guam – anatomy of a hodophile

3rd Damaris Sumba Lliguin, Bellport High School – Onions

Category G (Class Anthology Grades 3-4)

Ms. Lopez, Birch School, grades 3-4 – Birch Pages Writing Club

Category I (Class Anthology Grades 7-8)

Nicole Pomaro, Mount Sinai Middle School, Grade 8, Period 9 – Our Journeysr

Category J (Class Anthology Grades 9-10)

Clare Chotiner, Hicksville High School, Grade 9, Period 3 – Alliance poétique!

Category K (Class Anthology Grades 9-10)

Deirdre Faughey, Oyster Bay High School, Grade 11, Period 2 – The Road of Desire

Category L (Multi-Media, Visual Poetry)

Madison Kelly, Mount Sinai Middle School – A Journey into the Unknown

Guidelines

ELIGIBILITY & ENTRANCE CATEGORIES

THEME: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
ELIGIBILITY:  Students in grades 3–12
ENTRANCE CATEGORIES:
Category A — Individual poem, grades 3–4
Category B — Individual poem, grades 5–6
Category C — Individual poem, grades 7–8
Category D — Individual poem, grades 9–10
Category E — Individual poem, grades 11–12
Category F — Individual anthology
Category G — Class anthology, grades 3–4
Category H — Class anthology, grades 5–6
Category I — Class anthology, grades 7–8
Category J — Class anthology, grades 9–10
Category K — Class anthology, grades 11–12
Category L — Multi-media

Format

1. Submit a poem of up to 30 lines or less. Longer poems will be disqualified.
2. Multi-lingual poems welcome, with English translation.
3. Individual poems MUST have the following information on EACH page or poems will be disqualified:

    • Poem title and entrance category

    • Student AND teacher’s email (address must accept outside emails.)

    • Entrant’s name, complete address, home phone number, age, and grade level.

    • School name, complete address, school phone number, and teacher’s name.

    • Teacher’s submitting multiple entries must note grade and class period on each individual poem.

4. Class anthology MUST have the following information or anthologies will be disqualified:

    • Anthology title

    • Title sheet with the entrance category, teacher’s name, grade, school name, school phone number, teacher’s email, and complete address.

    • Each poem must include the student poet’s name. Students may enter a poem in an anthology and as an individual poem.

    • All anthology poems should be in book form.

    • Teacher’s submitting multiple entries must put the title, grade, AND class period on each anthology.

Deadline: Entries must be submitted or emailed with a date stamped by March 15, 2025.

Awards

All poems and anthologies are judged by a panel of published poets selected by the Birthplace Trustees. 

    • Winners will be notified by April 25th with winners’ names posted on WWBA website by May 1st. If there is any objection to the posting of a student name, please contact Francesca Love at educator@waltwhitman.org

    • Winners’ names will be published in WWBA Award Program which will be distributed at our Awards Ceremony.

    • Awards will be distributed on Saturday, May 31st, 2025, from 12pm – 2pm, at the Awards event, held at the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

    • Renowned poet, Marilyn Chin, our 2025 Poet in Residence officiates the award ceremony.

    • Grand Champion and multiple prize winners will be awarded in each category.

    • Individual entries and anthologies will NOT be retained or returned.

    • Awards will be held for pickup at the Walt Whitman Birthplace by June 15, 2025.  They will not be mailed. 

Submission Instructions

Submissions are now closed!

SUBMIT ENTRIES using the form below.
 
PDF Submission Must be saved: Last name, First Name

Or EMAIL materials to educator@waltwhitman.org by deadline. NO hard copy mailed submissions will be accepted.

All submissions become the property of WWBA.

Submissions due Saturday, March 15, 2025.
Good luck to all students!