In his commonplace book[1], Jefferson includes poems and excerpts that Jefferson included in different languages, primarily Greek (which I found out is the squiggly language). Originally, I was surprised by this because in quite of few of our readings, people were criticized or lives in danger for being different and Americans tend to have some sort of complex that deems English as the superior, more sophisticated language. This is especially true in instances of slavery and immigration where most Africans could not speak English and thus would be seem as uncivilized and similar to animals. However, I have now come to understand that English or American literature was not studied in universities until late in the 19^th century due to the need to study the classics[2]. These classics were originally written in language such as Greek, Latin, and others which demonstrated the significance to have some form of mastery and understanding of these languages. As far as its significance in his commonplace book, I think it best served to demonstrate the extensive education and “culturalism” that Jefferson possessed, however if you looked into the translations of the poem, you may find some interesting passages as well. Some of them talk about more political, philosophical aspects while others were a bit too opaque for me to understand. Jefferson seemed to be a man of great intellect and character, especially given the views and societal norms of the time, to include such work in his commonplace book.

Note: For works cited, please refer to the hyperlinks within the footnotes

[1] https://umd.instructure.com/courses/1280705/files/55983860/download?wrap=1

[2] https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/thomas-jefferson/langarts2.html