Heres a virtual movie of the American poet Max Ehrmann reading his exquisite inspirational poem "Desiderata" (From the Latin: " Desired things").. The poem is read definitively by the brilliantly talented youtuber David Buchalter a PhD student at the University of Arizona. He focuses on Medieval and Early Modern English literature, especially in Chaucer and Shakespeare,and has a very fine voice for reciting poetry. His very interesting channel covering his music and poetry etc etc can be found at this link. www.youtube.com "Desiderata" (Latin for "desired things", plural of desideratum) is an inspirational prose poem about attaining happiness in life. It begins: Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. Max Ehrmann first published it in 1927. Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary: "I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods." The poem has been the subject of several copyright disputes, and Ehrmann's authorship has been called into question after a church claimed it was prose originaly written in 1692,but conventional belief is that the modern language the poem is written indicates that it was indeed the original work of Ehrmann.no doubtt inspired by his studies of classical philosophy. Max Ehrmann (September 26, 1872 -- September 9, 1945) was an attorney and businessman of Terre Haute, Indiana, best known for his 1927 Desiderata (Latin: "desired things", plural of desideratum) is a 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann (1872-1945). It exhorts the reader to "be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be", and to "keep peace with your soul". "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams," wrote Ehrmann, "it is still a beautiful world."
The text, largely unknown in the author's lifetime public first for its usage in a church hymnal which dated it, mistakenly, to the 17th century, then for its being found on the bedside table of Adlai Stevenson upon his death in 1965, and then Les Crane's spoken-word recording in 1971 and 1972.[1]
The poem was actually written in 1927.[1] In approximately 1959, the Reverend Frederick Kates, rector of Saint Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for his congregation. At the top of the handout was the notation: "Old Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore A.D. 1692." In the 1960s, the poem was widely circulated with the claim that it had been found in Baltimore, Maryland's Saint Paul's Church, and that it had been written by an anonymous author in 1692, the year of the founding of Saint Paul's.[1]
When Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in his Christmas cards.[1] The publicity that followed lent widespread fame to the poem, and to the poem's connection with Saint Paul's Church of Baltimore.
In late 1971 and early 1972, Les Crane's spoken-word recording of Desiderata was a major hit in the United States and Great Britain, peaking at #8 on the Billboard charts and #6 on the Melody Maker such. The makers of the record assumed, as had many others, that the poem was very old and in the public domain, but publicity surrounding the record led to clarification of Ehrmann's authorship, and his family eventually received royalties.
On August 26, 2010, a bronze statue of Max Ehrmann sitting on a park bench was unveiled in Terre Haute, Indiana, his hometown, with the sculpture done by Bill Wolfe. On a nearby walkway, some lines of the poem are also available to be read by passers by.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are rerserved on this vcideo recording copyright Jim Clark 2011
Desiderata - Desired Things.............excerpt.....
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexatious to the spirit.
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Absolutely wonderful. David Buchalter has the perfect voice.
theturbocow 1 year ago 3