The obvious thing that stood out to me was a recurring theme in Walt Whitman’s work of a very strong connection to nature. His charming and witty opening declaration of celebrating a lazy afternoon drew me in instantly, cleverly bookended by the foreshadowing promise that the reader will become a willing accomplice by the end. His disdain for manufactured scents and deep love for the odorlessness of the natural air leads you through a story he writes of life with the nature we’re surrounded with. He seems to also change the structure of each “part” or “chapter” with each idea, thus leaving a visual road map that almost makes you feel as if you are actually forming the thoughts yourself. I’m interested in the significance of his specific selection of Roman numerals as titles for each chapter. You really cannot draw any conclusion about the composition without considering the intended message hidden in the title, if any.

“You shall no longer take things at second or third hand…. nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.”

I found these words to be extremely powerful and relatable especially in these days we’re living now. I feel there are too many people on this world today that forget how to think for themselves and how to absorb information and analyze it using their own knowledge rather then just regergetating what was “heard”. We now live in place where all the information we could ever desire is at our literal fingertips, yet we only seem to care for the things the are said and told rather than discovering for ourselves to create our own individual thoughts.

Whitman Introduces us to the word “untranslatable” when he introduces a comparison between human and hawk. This encounter is one of the most important parts within, Song of myself. We are introduced to the scene by an interaction a hawk starts with a human, the Hawk begins the interaction by complaining about the gab and humans loitering. The human then proceeds to say that they are too a bit untamed, this is making a similarity of being wild just as a hawk. Then they proceed that they too are untranslatable, this can easily mean that humans are not understandable by other beings that aren’t human but I believe there is more to that. I believe that it means we are untranslatable to everyone, not just other beings but to humans too.  No one will really understand our selfs but us. We will continue this barbaric yawp without really being understood by those around us just as we don’t understand what the Hawk actually says to us.

As what I assume when I read the title, spirituality and religion in Whitman’s Poem “Song of Myself” While he takes a great deal of material from Christianity, his conception of religion is much more complicated than the beliefs of one or two faiths mixed together. Whitman seems to draw from the many roots of belief to form his own religion, putting himself as the center.

Whitman brings philosophical significance to the most simple objects and actions, reminding America that every sight, sound, taste, and smell can take on spiritual importance to the fully aware and healthy individual. In the first cantos, he says, “I loafe and invite my soul,” creating a dualism between matter and spirit. Throughout the rest of the poem though, he continues this pattern. He constantly uses the images of body and spirit together, bringing us to a better understanding of his true conception of spirituality.

“Song of Myself” is a celebration of life and God. Whitman loved everything imaginable about nature. The concept of the poem is contain so many element about human life, on the most basic descriptive level, a really long poem. Whitman is clearly a poet with a lot to say, or at least with a lot of different ways to say it. He meanders from the micro to the macro, from atoms to the whole earth.

Through the course of the poem, the speaker spends a substantial amount of time describing a complex self. For instance he says:
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
The poem continues with Whitman being accused of talking too much. He says:
The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me,
He complains of my gab and my loitering
Whiteman feels as if him and nature are intertwined. This is why the connection between him and the hawk is so strong. He is intertwined with nature and nature is intertwined with him. However, he feels as if he is indistinguishable from the universe.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world
The speaker sees his self in the hawk as “untranslatable” being that we cannot understand the hawks language we define it as abnormal. What Whitman is trying to conclude is that “self” cannot be defined.

Earlier on in the poem he mentions that he does not ask the wounded person how he feels instead he becomes the wounded person. He vows to never translate self at all. From my understanding Whitman is trying to say what may be normal to me; may not be normal to someone else and versa. Therefore we are all untranslatable self, we can understand our self but someone else may not.

Song of Myself by Walt Withman, contains many comparisons to nature and human life. The untranslatable self that Walt Withman mentions is someone who feels in touch with nature. They are one with nature and understand the meaning of life. They base their life off of nature and the way things progress through life such as a blade of grass. We are no better than animals and nature itself, yet we often think we are. What I think it means is we are all equal no matter what class, race or culture you’re from we are all animals (mammals) in a sense and we all come to an end one day. There shouldn’t be prejudice or classes since we are not better than each other. We all start out in life at a similar place and where you are when you progress shouldn’t define you. Being a human is amazing and taking advantage of all we are able to do. As we go through life we see each other differently and become judgmental based on materialistic objects and value. It gets us carried away and takes us away from where we all started creating the judgements and the unfairness. If we could all remember that each of us start from a similar place and end in one also we would be more humble and more in touch with the world around us.

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is a pome that shows untranslatable self. In this poem the Walt Whitman he fully use words to express the people they have unlimited potential. Just like the what he write in this pome “I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy.” These language told us what he beliefs. He believed untranslatable self and personal identity. Walt Whitman use what he has is what he are in the beginning of the pome. Then he use that to search natural to explore new things during the nature. In exploring the changing constantly, in the end, he gave a definition. I think the definition Walt Whitman give is “untranslatable self”. Like to find or exploring the ego is a subjective experience, can’t explain to others in the process of what’s going on. As Walt Whitman said everyone is equally, but they all have they own life. You are you even identity changed. You still are the one can not be replaced and translate to other person. Everyone are untranslatable during the world.

Didi Hu

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman is full of meaningful symbolism. In the third line, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” shows that we are all the same. We are all the universe and the universe is us. “The smoke of my own breath, Echoes, ripples, and buzzed whispers…. love root, silkthread, crotch and vine, My respiration and inspiration…. the beating of my heart…. the passing of blood and air through my lungs…” this line is absolutely beautiful. This line tells me that Walt Whitman was very self-aware of his life, noted everything as-is and tried to find the meaning behind it. Democracy is symbolized throughout the use of grass as a means to show that grass grows everywhere, just like democracy should and does in the Untied States. What better freedom, unless its idealistic, is better than the grassroots foundation of democracy? “And to it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves…” this line is interesting. There could potentially be a lot of meaning behind this. For example, graves and democracy? What if he’s talking about how people, men and women, who have fought for democracy have only ended up dead but gave up their lives for the betterment of everyone else? Either that or he could be speaking about how no matter what we do, no matter what ever happens, we’re all going to meet the exact same fate. Nevertheless, he’s very insightful and really shows how connected humanity can be.

Carlos M.

“Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman is to chant the praises of equality, freedom and democracy. In the first part of the poem, Whitman writes, “My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air. Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same.” Indeed, he states that the world creates human beings equally. In other words, every individual born with equality. Then Whitman expresses “you shall no longer take things at second or third hand…nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the specters in books, you shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, you shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself.” In fact, he means that every individual has their own perspective, thought and understanding, therefore, everyone can learn and understand the world differently without look though the world by other person’s point of view. That’s why when a child asked what is the grass? Whitman did not have an answer, because the grass could be anything in different perspective. Moreover, Whitman believes that every individual should have the right to express their own and love themselves.

In addition, Whitman described individual as “untranslatable”. As we can see, every individual is same; each body flows blood; everyone breath the air. However, every individual is so different because of different perspectives and ideas. No one can totally understand the other one. I believe that even though I do not understand myself totally. When I express my feeling, I do not think others can fully understand my feeling because they are not me. Every individual’s feeling, experience, thought, soul, inherent are not translatable. I believe that is why Whitman described individual as “untranslatable”.

“Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic” – said Walt Whitman.

“I give them the same, I receive the[m] the same” – said the grass.
“he complains of my gab and my loitering. ” – said the hawk.
“I too am untranslatable” – said Walt Whitman

I don’t want to be pedantic. I took two groups of quotes and chose to highlight them in my interpretation of “I too am untranslatable.” The first grouping is when Walt Whitman uses the word ‘hieroglyphic’ and when he personifies the grass. The line “I give them the same, I receive the[m] the same”  is the grass speaking about humans. The grass is saying that no matter what walk of life, what type of person, no matter who it is, the grass, and in effect, the ground, just as gladly accepts the person when they are buried under it, and just as gladly provides the world for the person to stand upon while they are alive. It is interesting that Whitman chooses to call the grass a hieroglyphic because saying this means that the grass is a symbol. When I dont understand something, I try to take the words that confuse me, and I replace them with words that I know. In this way, I can both learn to understand something that is beyond me, and also glimpse into the thought process behind the creation of whatever it is that I do not understand.

With respect to Walt Whitman, I see a pretty consistent personification of animals and nature in this poem. What this tells me is that Whitman feels some connection to the wild nature of the world. Without intention, my feeling is backed up. For I can quote Whitman where he says “I too am not a bit tamed.” Furthermore, this connection to the world around him gives meaning to the line “I too am untranslatable.”  There is a certain mystery to the nature of wild animals, and the ebb and flow of the water and wind around us. There is an unknown there, and that unknown is unpredictable. When Whitman says he is untranslatable, he is saying that he is unique. He is saying that he is unknown. He is saying that he is unpredictable. But more to the point, Walt Whitman is sharing with the reader his own philosophy on life. There is a very powerful and imperative lens to look at the world through that can allow one to be both humble and boastful. In a very cool way, we are all untranslatable, because each and every one of us cannot truly be understood by any one else. It is a sure thing that If you spend 50 years with someone, they will know you better than anyone else. But it is also a sure thing, that they will never know you as well as you know yourself. In this way, we are all untranslatable. We can be deciphered to a degree, but there will always be something lost in translation, if someone else is trying to understand us. We are all unique, and we must always remember that every other person is just as unique as we are. Although that can be argued as a paradox, it should not be taken that way.

The poem “Song of Myself ” by Walt Whitman is the untranslatable self, because it has been claiming an infinitely complex self that has many definitions, but no single definitive meaning. In other word his voice is untranslatable.

Although the poem identifies “Myself” clearly as Whitman, the specification of the speaker is also mystic. Whitman uses broad variety of poetic devices. This poem is part of vision for a society where all are equal, men, women, black and white. Some of the sections contain direct explanations of Whitman thought. For example, he says “For every atom belonging to me as a good belongs to you.” Here, he is telling us that we are equal. He also talks about how good is life. “Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?” Here, he is trying to tell us it is wonderful to be a human being and the ability to become one with the self and with nature. Whitman shows that the union of self and the body enable for an openly incomparable experience in which one have total achievement.

Aminata Toure