Both Uses of
contingency
in
Leaves of Grass
- Me Imperturbe
Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature,
Master of all or mistress of all, aplomb in the midst of irrational things,
Imbued as they, passive, receptive, silent as they,
Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less
important than I thought,
Me toward the Mexican sea, or in the Mannahatta or the Tennessee,
or far north or inland,
A river man, or a man of the woods or of any farm-life of these
States or of the coast, or the lakes or Kanada,
Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as
the trees and animals do.†Chpt 1 *contingencies = things that might happen; or things available in case events happen
- 3
The sun and stars that float in the open air,
The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is
something grand,
I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,
And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation or
bon-mot or reconnoissance,
And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us,
and without luck must be a failure for us,
And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.†Chpt 15contingency = something that might happen; or something available in case an event occurs
Definition:
something that might happen -- especially something that it is hoped will not happen
or more rarely:
something available in case of an event -- especially an event that it is hoped will not occur
or more rarely:
something available in case of an event -- especially an event that it is hoped will not occur