Life Experiences and the Effects they have on Writings.
Disciples of New Criticism claim that an author and their background have no bearing on the interpretations of the author's work. Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes are just two examples, of many, why New Criticism should be disputed. The works of Whitman and Hughes are filled with experiences from their pasts that can be found both directly and indirectly in their poems. Were it not for the experiences that these two authors had during their lives many, if not all, of the passion that they put into their poetry would have been lost or compromised.
In "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" Walt Whitman draws on many life experiences that provide both realism and conviction to the poem. The poem indicates that a group of Northern soldiers are crossing a stream after a victorious battle during the Civil War. Whitman is able to give an accurate description of these events because during the war "Whitman was overcome with the carnage he beheld and settled in Washington, D.C., where for the duration of the war he ministered without pay to sick and wounded soldiers" (Olsen-Smith). "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" is not only about the North winning the Civil War, it is also about Whitman's views on what the country has allowed itself to become.
Being from the North it is only natural that Whitman would write about the soldiers that he witnesses go into battle. While he never comes out and says "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" is written about the soldiers of the Union, Whitman makes it clear that the soldiers from the North are the subjects of the poem. It does not become clear that these are the people Whitman is writing about until the end of the poem, when he says of them, "Some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford - while, / Scarlet and blue and snowy white, / The guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind" (Whitman Lines 5-7). The colors that Whitman shows the reader are clearly the colors of the Union flag and the fact that they "flutter gaily" indicates that it is a happy moment for these soldiers, both because they are returning from battle and because they have won that battle.