When I was shown the charts and the 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…

Then, read the lines from “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim.”

Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest the first just lift the blanket;
Who are you elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-gray’d hair, and flesh all sunken about the eyes?
Who are you my dear comrade?

Both poems shift from long lines to shorter lines in a similar way. How is the effect of this shift different in each poem?

a. The shift in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” creates a fast pace that reveals a theme about escape. In contrast, the lines in “A Sight in Camp Daybreak Gray and Dim” create a slow pace that hints at a theme about death despite the shift.

b. The shift in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” switches the point of view from the astronomer’s to the speaker’s. In contrast, the lines in “A Sight in Camp Daybreak Gray and Dim” stay with the speaker despite the shift.

c. The shift in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” reveals the speaker’s point of view toward the astronomer. In contrast, the simple observations in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim” are maintained despite the shift.

d. The shift in “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” changes the tone of the poem from one of frustration to one of relief. In contrast, the sad tone is maintained in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim” despite the shift.