Both Uses of
motley
in
Leaves of Grass
- …blithely prying, Waves, undulating waves, liquid, uneven, emulous waves, Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves, Where the great vessel sailing and tacking displaced the surface, Larger and smaller waves in the spread of the ocean yearnfully flowing, The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome under the sun, A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments, Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.†
Chpt 19 *
- My life and recitative, containing birth, youth, mid-age years, Fitful as motley-tongues of flame, inseparably twined and merged in one—combining all, My single soul—aims, confirmations, failures, joys—Nor single soul alone, I chant my nation's crucial stage, (America's, haply humanity's)— the trial great, the victory great, A strange eclaircissement of all the masses past, the eastern world, the ancient, medieval, Here, here from wanderings, strayings, lessons, wars, defeats—here at…†
Chpt 34
Definition:
-
(motley) consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds of a thing -- sometimes implying that the collection does not go well together and is of low quality