Walt Whitman Paradox

Walt Whitman was an American poet and journalist who was alive from 1819 until 1892, being a well noted author of the transcendentalist movement that took over American literature during this time period. He was the second of eight surviving children, and grew up with his father always switching jobs in order to keep the family financially stable. When the financial situation started going south, Whitman’s father pulled him out of school so he could work and try to help the family. At the age of seventeen, Whitman became a teacher, and later a journalist in 1841. After five years, he became the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, but was fired because his opinions and viewpoints often disagreed with those of his boss and the readers of the paper. He then traveled to New Orleans, feeling the need to leave because of the issue of slavery that was prevalent down in that area.
Starting in 1855, and continuing on until his death, Whitman published various editions of his collection of poems, which he titled Leaves of Grass. When the Civil War broke out, Whitman joined the Union cause as a

The first words in the eighth and ninth lines contain a paradox. Whitman’s use of “tenderly” and “strong” show the speaker telling that their death will be soft and easy, but the connection they have with the deity and death is strong. The speaker repeats the phrase “Strong is your hold” in lines nine and ten, but what follows each changes the meaning of the repeated phrase. “O mortal flesh” being strong means that the body the soul is trapped in is preventing the soul from leaving the body so they can be with the deity they’re calling upon. If “O love” has the strong hold on the speaker, then the interpretation could mean that the deity is the reason the speaker is looking forward to death, again, connecting to Whitman’s transcendental