I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable;
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

(Verse 52 from “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman)

In the Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of “howl” or “howling” provides three options: 1) wind blowing hard and making noise 2) a dog or wolf sound 3) a communal noise made by a group of people.

I found it interesting that in defining “howl,” the wind came first. But then, perhaps our idea of what a “howl” is comes from our experience in nature. In fact, in the movie, “Frozen,” Elsa sings, “The wind is howling like the swirling storm inside,” as she describes her emotions creating a tumult inside of her, much like a howling wind around her. The sounds around us often help us to define what we are feeling inside, e…