All 3 Uses of
paradox
in
Leaves of Grass
- Beginners
How they are provided for upon the earth, (appearing at intervals,)
How dear and dreadful they are to the earth,
How they inure to themselves as much as to any—what a paradox
appears their age,
How people respond to them, yet know them not,
How there is something relentless in their fate all times,
How all times mischoose the objects of their adulation and reward,
And how the same inexorable price must still be paid for the same
great purchase.†Chpt 1
- Strange and hard that paradox true I give,
Objects gross and the unseen soul are one.†Chpt 15 *
- of mighty lakes—nor
Mississippi's stream:
—This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name—the still
small voice vibrating—America's choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itself the main, the
quadriennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous'd—sea-board and inland— Texas to Maine—the Prairie States—Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West—the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling—(a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern Napoleon's:) the
peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity—welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
—Foams and ferments the wine?†Chpt 34
Definitions:
-
(1)
(paradox) a situation or statement that seems to contradict itself but may still be true
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, paradox may refer to a statement that contradicts itself -- such as "I always lie."