You might have recognized the beautiful poem on our front page as the Desiderata …it was very popular in the 1960's and 70's, and many of you – like me – might even still have a colorful poster of it stowed away in a scrapbook somewhere!
What most people don't know, though, is that this poem is NOT by "Anonymous" and dating from 1692, that it IS indeed properly copyrighted and that, as such, it's absolutely NOT freely available under the notion of "public domain"! (Actually, it is this misconception that is probably most responsible for the variations in text that are sometimes seen in the poem – we've shared here what we understand to be the version Mr. Ehrmann intended.) Especially given current world events, the sentiments of this Desiderata seem as timely and as needed as ever… so we're honored to have been granted permission to share it with you here (particularly since some of you just might be seeing it for the very first time!) – and we’re pleased to help "set the record straight" about it too, along the way!
Max Ehrmann (1872 – 1945) was born and raised in Terre Haute, Indiana; he studied at De Pauw University (Greencastle, IN) and then Harvard University, worked as an attorney for many years, and was quite a prolific writer over the span of his lifetime! This particular poem was written in 1927, and it was first published (along with several other of his works) by his widow in a collection called "The Poems of Max Ehrmann" in 1948.
In the mean time, if you'd like to find more poems from Max Ehrmann, we understand that Crown Books (the publishers) currently offer several collections of Max Ehrmann's works, most of which are available through special order from any local bookstore (Or quite possibly, they might already be available and on the shelf in your local library!).
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