My understanding of the “untranslatable self” is that there is something so big and unique and in need of celebration about each and every human which can’t be written down in words. The interesting thing about this is that Whitman is, in fact, doing his best to write down the intricacies of himself, yet finds himself unable to fully write it down. Whitman celebrates this untranslatability, though, and find it to be the best thing about being human. It reminds me of the way that we experienced, in class, the painting of the monk experiencing the sublime while looking over a large, ambiguous ocean. Whitman, in this same way, is introspecting and experiencing the same awe and fear and lust and confusion. The human experience is something so untranslatable, yet we so often try to parse it down into easy-to-digest explanations and quips. Yet, it’s not that easy. Instead of working to gain a handle on every aspect of humanity, perhaps we should follow Whitman’s lead and celebrate the largeness and ambiguity of each individual.

-Kelsey Luks