Walt Whitman - Thoreau

In "Cavalry Crossing a Ford", Whitman paints a very patriotic, manly, reverent, and hardcore picture of America. The poem is about a cavalry, or group of soldiers who are fighting for America and our rights as a country (Whitman). This cavalry is a large one, who follow in line along a path of stones through the water in a ford (Whitman). The soldiers are all one unit and are all fighting along side each other. The author refers tot them as "they" as if they are seen all together as one unit (Whitman). They represent every one on their side when they are fighting, but at the same time they are each individuals fighting for their individual rights, as the text points out when Whitman says "each group, each person, a picture" (Whitman). The text is told from a vantage point that is far away and looking down upon the soldiers as they are coming nearer (Whitman). This text is very visual, and the reader is able to picture what the troop and ford look and sound like as they are approaching (Whitman). Whitman speaks of things like "their arms flash in the sun", and "hark to the musical clank" (Whitman). Both of those things are imagery and help the reader visualize the cavalry in their mind. Walt Whitman is very straight forward about how he tells things. He is very creative in the way he portrays it, but none the less, he tells things like they are, which is very much like Thoreau (Whitman) (Thoreau). Thoreau was very straightforward about the way he presented things (Thoreau). Although Whitman had a very creative writing style full of word pictures, and Thoreau had writing that was heated and direct, they both very effectively conveyed their opinions and got their points across (Whitman) (Thoreau). Both Thoreau and Whitman write about their battles for freedom (Thoreau) (Whitman). Although the two have very different styles of battling for freedom (much to do with different time periods), they each are writing about standing up for what you believe in (Whitman) (Thoreau). Although neither directly says that, that is essentially what both are writing about. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. "118. Cavalry Crossing a Ford. Whitman, Walt. 1900. Leaves of Grass." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. . "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.