When half-gods go/ The gods arrive

I do not enjoy studying. However, it's one of those things you just gotta do, unless you are an uber freak who just memorizes everything instantly. If that's you, go away, I don't like you.

In an effort to study for my test, I decided to analyze a poem (which I'm horrible at) using poetry terms that I studied (blech).

I chose Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which is a poem I had planned to read for my personal learning plan.

GIVE all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the Muse—	5
Nothing refuse.
'Tis a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:	10
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;
But it is a god,	15
Knows its own path,
And the outlets of the sky.
It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout,
Souls above doubt,	20
Valour unbending:
Such 'twill reward;—
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.	25
Shift
Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavour—
Keep thee to-day,	30
To-morrow, for ever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,	35
First vague shadow of surmise,
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free;
Nor thou detain her vesture's hem,	40
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.
Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay;
Though her parting dims the day,	45
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When half-gods go
The gods arrive.

Emerson's poem is free verse, as evidenced by the lack of standard rhyme scheme and the fact that there is no standard length for the stanzas or lines. I think his use free verse lends credence to the theme of his poem: freedom.

At first glance, Emerson's poem is about abandoning all you hold dear to embrace love:

GIVE all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the Muse—	5
Nothing refuse.

He states that although love can be unpredictable

Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:	10
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;

You should follow it blindly because love is a god and knows what it's doing.

But it is a god,	15
Knows its own path,

However, despite all this, Emerson never says to follow your lover. Only the abstract concept of love itself. He personifies the concept of love as though it were the lover. It's not until later that he even mentions a lover.

Cling with life to the maid;

Not only does he not say to follow the lover, he specifically says to NOT follow the lover. If they find something they want more than you, let them leave you and don't hang onto any part of them.

But when the surprise,	35
First vague shadow of surmise,
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free;
Nor thou detain her vesture's hem,	40
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.

This next part is my favorite, his assumption with the last stanza is that it can only go up from wherever you are. So if let that last lover go because:

When half-gods go
The gods arrive.

The whole tone of the poem is freedom. If you let go of everything for love, and follow it trusting, love will set you free. "Free as an Arab" which in Emerson's time meant a nomad of sorts. By following the concept of love and not your lover, you will find better love, perhaps even godly love.