Learning to Sound One’s Barbaric Yawp! In Section 52 of Walt
Whitman's "Song of Myself," he writes: The spotted hawk swoops
by and accuses me, he complains Of my gab and my loitering. I
too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my
barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. Whitman claims to be
"untranslatable" in this moment of sounding his "barbaric yawp
over the roofs of the world," and yet, he has struggled with
connection with other individuals, nature, the universe, and
himself throughout the poem. His barbaric yawp may be read as
both an assertion of independence and an admission that as a
poet he must connect in order to be identified and heard.
Whitman's barbaric yawp is marked by tension as this poet comes
to recognize himself, his position, and what it truly means for
his identity when he takes a risk and makes his message public.
This collection considers the tension associated with helping
students find their voices as communicators and make their
messages public. In this context, t