BLOG 3: Whitman

Walt Whitman has a similar philosophy in “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” to Emerson, but his whole poem is patriotic and collective in essence. It may seem very different than Emerson, who focused on self-reliance, because Whitman focuses on interdependence, but it is a lot like what Emerson was saying in “Self-Reliance”. Whitman’s poem is about an army, and armies are obviously dependent on each individual working together. Whitman ends his poem with a symbol of unity, which makes sense because he is mostly talking about the Union army. He says “scarlet, and blue, and snowy white, the guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind” (Whitman). The flag is symbolizing how unified the army is, and that they work together. Emerson said that “strong individuals are necessary for a strong society” (Brugman). This is just like how Whitman wrote. There were people being individualistic and doing what they wanted, he says some went to get a drink and others were negligent, but in the end they still work together (Whitman). This is all a good philosophy because during this time people all over the nation were becoming very independent (Divine).

The patriotism is what really makes this different than Thoreau’s philosophy. Thoreau really comes off as an anti-patriot, even if he is not. He appears this way because he starts of “Civil Disobedience” by saying that he wants no government and begins his next paragraph by saying the American government is annually losing its integrity (Thoreau). Most patriots do not claim the government to be lacking in integrity, but Thoreau likes to go against the grain and say what he really believes. He shows this to be true by going to jail for what he believes when he refuses to pay the poll tax (Thoreau).

The way that all of these are similar is in the way they all seem to succumb to nature. Obviously Emerson and Thoreau are fascinated by nature; Emerson wrote an essay titled “Nature” and Thoreau went to live on his own, or partially on his own, in “Walden”. Whitman’s “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” has a lot of description, and most of it pertains to nature. Although it is only a few lines long, the poem paints a good picture of nature with horses and how it is like each element of the scene is fit for a picture. He explains a lot of the color in this poem too. He says the “green islands”, “silvery river”, “brown-faced men”, and the flag is “scarlet, and blue, and snowy white” (Whitman).



Brugman, Patricia. "Individual and Society in 'Self-Reliance'." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=&iPin=ETL0377&SingleRecord=True(accessed January 30, 2012)

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.

Thoreau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012.

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, [c1900]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/142/.