Cavalry Crossing a Ford - Analysis

Walt Whitman's poem "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" is his perspective of the Civil War. Whitman was a nurse, and he cared for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the battles (Whitman 340). The poem is written in with a very free rhyme scheme. That characteristic can closely relate to the very free ideas that are associated with Transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very well known Transcendentalist who influenced many writers. Whitman was first inspired by Emerson to become a poet after he read in one of Emerson's essays that "the perfect poet has a new thought; he has a whole new experience to unfold" (Whitman 340). The poem does tell of a Civil War battle, but he does not describe any fighting. Whitman's poem describes a "silvery river" as well as "a line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands" (Whitman 341). Whitman shared Transcendentalist views with Thoreau. Both men had a strong belief in the power of an individual. Thoreau believed that "there are, for Thoreau, only individuals" (Harding). The poem described the soldiers as "each person a picture, the negligent rest on the saddles" (Whitman 341). Whitman wrote about the importance of the individual in the civil war battle. Even though the soldiers knew they were going into a battle where men would die. Emerson was searching for an ideal poet, and Whitman was definitely that poet. All three of the men shared their transcendentalist views in their writing, and Whitman displayed it in his poem "Cavalry Crossing a Ford."

Whitman and Thoreau were similar people. Thoreau was not afraid to perform manual labor or work (Harding). Whitman, even though he was an intellectual person, also was not afraid to work, as he was a nurse during the Civil War. Thoreau's philosophy on working was that "The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get a 'good job,' but to perform well a certain work" (Harding). Whitman was a nurse, but he was not a nurse for a specific side of the Civil War, and he treated people from both sides. Whitman was a supporter of not just doing his job, but doing his job well; the philosophy was also shared with Thoreau.

Whitman, Walt. "Calvary Crossing a Ford." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 340-341. Print.


Harding, Walter. A Thoreau Handbook by Walter Harding: pp. 131-173 (New York University Press, 1959). © 1959 by New York University Press. Quoted as "Thoreau's Ideas" in Harold Bloom, ed. Henry David Thoreau, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BCHDT05&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 10, 2012).