《草葉集》包含了豐富而深刻的思想內容，詩人站在激進的資產階級民主主義立場上謳歌美國這塊“民主的大地”：
"In" leaves of grass contains rich and profound ideological content, the poet stands on a radical bourgeois democratic standpoint singing American this "democratic earth":
那裏沒有奴隸，也沒有奴隸的主人，
There are no slaves, nor the master of the slaves,
那裏人民立刻起來反對被選人的無休止的胡作非為，
There are people immediately against the selection of endless play the gangster,
那裏男人女人勇猛地奔赴死的號召，有如大海洶湧的狂浪，
Where men and women to die bravely calls, there are violent waves surging like sea,
那裏外部的權利總是跟隨在內部的權利之後，
Where the right is always following the right of the interior,
那裏公民總是頭腦和理想，總統，市長，州長只是有報酬的雇用人，
Where citizens are always on the minds and ideals, the president, the mayor, the governor is just a paid employment,
那裏孩子們被教育著自己管理自己，並自己依靠自己，
Where children are taught to manage themselves, and to rely on their own,
那裏事件總是平靜地解決，
Where events are always settled,
那裏對心靈的探索受到鼓勵，
There is encouragement to the exploration of the soul,
那裏婦女在大街上公開遊行，如同男子壹樣，
There are women on the streets, like men,
那裏她們走到公***集會上，如同男子壹樣取得席次。
There they go to a public meeting, as men get seats.
《草葉集》中對大自然、對自我有著泛神主義的歌頌，泛神主義是崇拜大自然，以自然萬物為神的；詩中極力贊美大自然的壯麗、神奇和偉大：
"Leaves of grass" in nature, and the self has a celebration of pantheism, pantheism is the worship of nature and all things in the nature of God; poem strongly praise nature of the magnificent and wonderful and great:
攀登高山，我自己小心地爬上，握持著低椏的細瘦的小枝，
Climb the mountain, I carefully climbed up, holding a low Sam thin twig,
行走過長滿青草，樹葉輕拂著的小徑，
Walking the long grass, leaves the breeze path,
那裏鵪鶉在麥田與樹林之間鳴叫，
Where quail call between the fields and woods,
那裏蝙蝠在七月的黃昏中飛翔，那裏巨大的金甲蟲在黑夜中降落，
Where bats flying in the evening of July, where huge Reaver in night landing,
那裏溪水從老樹根湧出流到草地上去。
Where the stream from the old root out flow on the grass.
《草葉集》是長滿美國大地的芳草，永遠生氣蓬勃並散發著誘人的芳香。它是世界聞名的佳作，開創了美國民族詩歌的新時代。作者在詩歌形式上有大膽的創新，創造了“自由體”的詩歌形式，打破了傳統的詩歌格律，以斷句作為韻律的基礎，節奏自由奔放，汪洋恣肆，舒卷自如，具有壹瀉千裏的氣勢和無所不包的容量。
"Leaves of grass" is covered with earth American grass, always vibrant and exudes seductive fragrance. It is a world famous masterpiece, created a new era of USA national poetry. Author in the form of poetry is bold innovation, create forms of poetry "free body", breaking the traditional poetry, to punctuate as a basis for the rhythm, rhythm, free spirited, unrestrained, free writing, has plummeted in the momentum and the all encompassing capacity.
《草葉集》涉及的領域十分廣泛，思想十分豐富，龐雜，但其基本的主題可大致歸結為：自我，創造和民族。
The grass set involves a wide range of areas, thinking is very rich, complex, but its basic theme can roughly summed up: self, and create and national.
自我是《草葉集》中反復渲染，反復歌詠的壹大主題。詩人在強調自我、相信自己在超驗主義思想的影響下，對自我進行了無以復加的贊頌，把它刻畫成頂天立地的巨人。但詩人筆下的這個自我，不同於歐洲浪漫主義傳統中那種感傷纖弱、自怨自艾的自我，而是壹個強健有力，甚至有些粗魯的自我：
Self is the "leaves of grass" in repeated rendering, a major theme of repeatedly singing. The poet in the stressed self, believe that their in the transcendental thoughts under the influence, the self of the utmost praise. It portrayed the indomitable spirit of the giant. But the poet of the self, different from European romantic tradition in the kind of sentimental, delicate, self pity self, but a strong, even some rude self:
“我，惠特曼，壹個美國人，壹個粗魯漢，壹個世界，縱情聲色……饑餐，渴飲，傳種接代（《自我之歌》）”
"I, Whitman, an American, a rude Chinese, a world of debauchery...... Meal hunger, thirst, reproduction ("song of myself")"
《草葉集》的成功更在於詩集裏的每壹片草葉都註入了鮮活的時代精神，正如詩人的心靈，時時隨著時代的脈搏而跳動。而19世紀中後期的美國正處於壹個自由，平等和民主精神想草葉壹樣傳遍天下的時期，這不僅對當時的美國意義非凡，而且對整個人類沖破封建觀念和專制壓迫的雙重枷鎖，走向民主，自由的光明未來，都有深遠的意義。
"Leaves of grass" success lies in poetry each a piece of grass into a fresh spirit of the times, as the poet's mind, always with the pulse of the times beating. And in the latter half of the 19th century in the United States is in a free, equal and democratic spirit to grass the same throughout the world, which not only the significance of the United States at the time extraordinary, but also to the entire human break feudal ideas and oppressive double yoke, to democracy, freedom of the bright future, far-reaching significance.