61 Emerson published 166 poems between 1829 and 1882, the year of his death, most of them in three collections of verse: Poems (1847), May-Day and Other Pieces (1867), and Selected Poems (1876). 1 He began writing poetry in 1812, when he was nine. 2 His irst memorable poem, “Hymn, Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument” (“Concord Hymn”), published in 1837, begins: By the rude bridge that arched the lood, Their lag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And ired the shot heard round the world. (CW 9: 307) But “Concord Hymn” is not characteristic of Emerson’s poetry. “Unity” is. The 1844 motto for his essay on “The Over-Soul,” “Unity” treats Emerson’ s prepossessing theme: Space is ample, east and west, But two cannot go abreast, Cannot travel in it two: Yonder masterful cuckoo Crowds every egg out of the nest, Quick or dead, except its own. (ECPT 204–205) The argument of Emerson’s poetry is “to . . . banish the Not Me & supply the Me,” “to abolish difference & restore Unity.” 3 The only unity in his het- erogenous collection of poems is Waldo Emerson’ s desire to make all things be of his mind. This is the “necessary and autobiographic basis” of his verse. “Talent amuses,” he says in “Poetry and Imagination,” “but if your verse has not a necessary and autobiographic basis, though under whatever gay poetic veils, it shall not waste my time.” The next paragraph reads: For poetry is faith. To the poet the world is virgin soil; all is practicable; the men are ready for virtue; it is always time to do right. He is a true re-commencer, or MARK  SCOTT Ralph Waldo Emerson 5 9781107123823_pi-442.indd 61 9781107123823_pi-442.indd 61 7/2/2015 2:49:35 PM 7/2/2015 2:49:35 PM