Walt Whitman"Cavalry Crossing a Ford"

Walt Whitman's poem "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" is literally about Union soldiers crossing a ford riding their horses as the "guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind"(Whitman, "Cavalry Crossing a Ford"). Even though this is one of the shorter pieces we have had to read for this project, it is still easy to see the resemblance to the philosophies of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood"("EMERSON - NATURE--Web Text."). Emerson wrote this in his essay "Nature" and I believe that it can relate to Whitman when he was writing his poem "Cavalry Crossing a Ford". Whitman is very descriptive and chooses his words well when speaking about nature and the men in his poem. He talks about the "silvery river" and "their arms flash in the sun"(Whitman, "Cavalry Crossing a Ford"). These are all very descriptive phrases and assists the reader in imagining the scene and beauty of nature through the soldiers' eyes.

"Cavalry Crossing A Ford by Walt Whitman." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. Web. 11 Feb. 2012.

"EMERSON - NATURE--Web Text." Virginia Commonwealth University. Web. 11 Feb. 2012.