DESIDERATA – A Didactic Poem by Max Ehrmann
MAX EHRMANN Was an American poet who wrote this didactic poem that is an instructional poem, called DESIDERATA which means in Latin something that is needed or desired. The poem is in the prose format therefore it is called a prose poem and this poem has a very interesting history. MAX EHRMANN was mostly unknown for all his lifetime but this particular poem made him very popular; and he is known even today for his poem DESIDERATA. He wrote this poem in 1920 but he didn’t publish it… most probably because he wrote this poem for his daughter. Later on in 1927, he thought of copywriting it; and so, the poem was copyrighted in 1927. Still the poem didn’t have any fame as it didn’t reach unto the readers.
In the Christmas of 1933, he printed this poem on Christmas cards and he distributed those cards among his friends, family and acquaintances but he did not mention the Copyright notice regarding this poem on those cards and therefore he had to lose his Copyright. Many people distributed the unattributed copies everywhere which means MAX EHRMANN was not credited for his work in those copies. He died in 1945 and after his death his wife published his poems in a book entitled THE POEMS of MAX EHRMANN In 1948. Even after the publication of this book nearly 200 unattributed copies of desiderata were distributed in a church in 1959.
As this poem is it written in the prose format; it does not have any sort of rhythm or rhyme scheme. Here is the original text of the poem-
Desiderata: Max Ehrmann
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 vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
Now let’s find out what message this poem contains-
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.
In the first stanza the poet advises us to stay calm and peaceful and not to get disturbed by all the noise, haste, distractions and negativity around us. We should not lose our mental peace while facing such situations and we need to remember that there is great peace in the silence. We don’t have to surrender other people by losing our moral values but as far as possible we should be on good terms with them. We should always be true to our hearts and speak the truth clearly without aggression but we should also not forget to listen to others because they also have something to tell… even if they sound dull or ignorant. This advice has been given by MAX EHRMANN around hundred years ago but still this advice has great value even today because in today’s world we face lot of disturbances troubles and negativity around us and the people who cannot handle these things placidly; fall victim to the depression and other mental diseases along with that in today’s corrupt world many people surrender themselves to the bad people, bad company and bad influences by losing their moral values and not many people nowadays open their hearts and speak the truth nor they listen to others because people have become very busy these days and have forgotten to live their lives and care for others.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
In the second stanza the poet says that we need to avoid loud and aggressive people around us because they will annoy and upset our minds which will eventually cause disturbance in the peace of our mind. He also says that we should never compare ourselves with others and if we do so; we will be unproductive, unsuccessful, useless and finally we will turn into an unpleasant person with lot of anger and hatred for others. So, we need to remember that there will always be greater and lesser persons than us. Therefore, we need to focus on our goals, plans, achievements and our future. In this era also we find aggressive people around us and their aggression is caused due to the over-stress of the work and it becomes very difficult to have an intellectual or sensible conversation with them as they are always ready to quarrel and dealing with such people can definitely affect our mental peace. Along with that, this era is an era of competition and many people always try to compare themselves with others and by doing so; they forget their own worth. Therefore, it is important for all of us to know our own worth, our own talent and we should learn to utilise that talent for our own development and for the development of our society.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
In the above stanza the poet advises us to focus on our own careers. It does not matter how humble our profession is but we must still be loyal and dedicated towards our profession. In today’s world it has become very difficult to get a good job and that is the reason why it is important for all of us to value our jobs. Then only we can be successful in our lives. While doing our business affairs we need to be very careful because this world is full of fraud people yet we should not forget that there are some good people in this world as well who strive for high ideals. If we look at the life with an optimistic view; we will find that the life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
In the above stanza, the poet advises us to be true to ourselves and not to pretend the fake affection towards people. Yet we should not be sceptical or distrustful about love because even in the world full of disappointments and hardships; the love stands strong forever as the perennial grass. Which means we should learn to love people from the bottom of our hearts because though, we as human beings are mortal; our love can be immortal and so this way our memories can live forever.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
In the above stanza the poet says that we should learn from our experiences because when we surrender our youth, we become wiser. He further advises us to grow our inner strength and positivity so that we can stay strong enough to face any misfortune. To stay mentally strong, we must not think pessimistically as it will drag us into the distress, and therefore we need to be connected with everyone and avoid fatigue and loneliness in our lives but while following this discipline we also must not forget to be gentle with ourselves.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
The poet reminds us in this stanza that we are the children of this universe and we are as important as the trees and stars and we have all the right to exist on this earth. It does not matter whether we understand this fact or not but the universe has plans for all of us. Which means we should only focus on doing our best because we do not know that what troubles we may come across therefore we should always try to find our ways through these troubles.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
In the above stanza MAX EHRMANN advices, us to be at peace with God which means we should all have faith in God as He is the one who has created this universe; and it doesn’t matter what troubles we face, what hardship we face…. our soul and heart should always be peaceful.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
And finally, he says that though there is lot of fraud and dullness in this world… though sometimes we have broken dreams…still this is a beautiful world and that is the reason why we should always strive to be happy and cheerful…!