Both Uses of
compulsion
in
Leaves of Grass
- To hold men together by paper and seal or by compulsion is no account, That only holds men together which aggregates all in a living principle, as the hold of the limbs of the body or the fibres of plants.†
Chpt 23 *
- …the promise, the sure fulfilment, the absolute success, despite of people—illustrates evil as well as good, The vehement struggle so fierce for unity in one's-self, How many hold despairingly yet to the models departed, caste, myths, obedience, compulsion, and to infidelity, How few see the arrived models, the athletes, the Western States, or see freedom or spirituality, or hold any faith in results, (But I see the athletes, and I see the results of the war glorious and inevitable, and…†
Chpt 33
Definition:
-
(compulsion) a strong (possibly uncontrollable) urge to do something; or a force or a requirement that forces an action