Question

Which of the following best describes how the poet uses alliteration to enhance the poem’s meaning?
A. The alliteration in the words “heard" and “learn’d” (line 1) helps suggest the wisdom of the astronomer.
B. The alliteration in the words “heard" and “learn’d” (line 1) helps suggest the speaker’s scorn for the astronomer.
C. The alliteration in the phrase “mystical moist night-air" (line 7) helps suggest that nature is not always welcoming.
D. The alliteration in the phrase “mystical moist night-air" (line 7) helps suggest that nature unites both physical and spiritual qualities.

Answer 1

D. The repeated m-sound in “mystical moist night-air” links the spiritual word “mystical” with the sensory phrase “moist night‑air,” reinforcing Whitman’s idea that nature combines both spiritual and physical experience (and contrasts with the dry, analytical lecture of the astronomer).