In Search of 'Desiderata'

October 15, 2015 11:08 AM

"Desiderata" is a 1927 poem by Max Ehrmann. It's been subjected to misattribution and mutation (the second Google result is a typo-ridden version that's lurked on a .edu site since 1996 and substitutes "Neither be critical about love" for "Neither be cynical about love" and "Be careful" for "Be cheerful". Even Snopes prints a version with "careful" rather than "cheerful.) Daniel Nester digs into the history of the poem in a piece published on the website of the Poetry Foundation.
posted by larrybob (64 comments total)

Don't forget the National Lampoon version.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:14 AM on October 15, 2015 [21 favorites]

Missed opportunity: Desiderrata.
posted by jedicus at 11:16 AM on October 15, 2015 [41 favorites]

I guess that it was well known enough during the early seventies that Nat Lamp thought that everyone would get what they were parodying.
posted by octothorpe at 11:27 AM on October 15, 2015

I think they were probably right? The text is still all over the place. I feel like I'd have a hard time finding anyone in my immediate vicinity who hadn't read or heard it, first-generation immigrants maybe excepted.
posted by brennen at 11:33 AM on October 15, 2015

so this thing falls solidly into the category of things that my mother finds
deeply meaningful and affecting and poignant, it's just so, so poignant. because I am a grownup now, instead of the horrible reddity teenager I once was, I now say "isn't it though!" and "uh-huh!" and "yes!" and then change the topic as quickly as humanly possible.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 11:35 AM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

When I am fed up with humans, I sometimes repeat

Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.

as a mantra.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:41 AM on October 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

I guess that it was well known enough during the early seventies that Nat Lamp thought that everyone would get what they were parodying.

Yes, it was.
posted by aught at 11:46 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

"You are a fluke of the universe": Text of the National Lampoon's Deteriorata
posted by larrybob at 11:49 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

As the article states, the Lampoon was specifically targeting this version that was all over the radio at the time.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:49 AM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

I bet this was delightful to hear for reactionaries (including those wearing centrist's clothing) in the 70's. Feminists, civil rights activists, and egalitarians of political economy all tend to be loud and aggressive because otherwise shit never changes.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Textual morphine for people in pain, I guess, but unbearably Panglossian to those not currently dying

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant, they too have their story.

Well, I read this whole poem so I guess that counts
posted by clockzero at 11:51 AM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

on the one hand, it's some quietist fucking bullshit, and it's extremely shallow, and it's basically a placebo for thought, and it's sicky sweet methadone for the soul.

but on the other hand, if I take the Desiderata fan I know best as archetypal for the category of Desiderata fans in general... well, okay. My mother has had a wretched life on the whole. Grew up dirt poor in an abusive foster care situation, got married as early as she could to a man who turned out to be an abusive alcoholic, raised three kids in deep poverty working a series of godawful waitressing gigs, put herself through nursing school while working full time as a nurse's assistant, and is only now, in her 60s, making enough money to be financially secure, in a job that's finally non-abusive.

so like can't blame her for being like GIVE ME ALL THE METHADONE metaphorically speaking.

new talking point: we need living wages, workers rights, actually enforced laws against abuse (both workplace abuse and domestic abuse), and real democracy. because only with these things will most people have the mental time and mental/emotional space to like things that aren't methadone-esque palliatives.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:04 PM on October 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

Palliatives are cheaper than structural stuff, so I think we're gonna stick with palliatives.
posted by aramaic at 12:09 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

hate the palliatives love the people treating themselves with them.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:10 PM on October 15, 2015 [10 favorites]

A poster of Desiderata was on the wall of my high school girlfriend's bathroom, where I lay shivering on the floor for one long night in 1999 with some kind of food poisoning. As a result, I still associate "Go placidly amidst the noise and haste" with shitting myself.
posted by Beardman at 12:10 PM on October 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

I guess I will be the person who says that, even with its notable sorta quietist flaws and all the ways it doesn't generalize (and given that "the universe is going how it should" or even "the universe isn't a total fucking horrorshow" is bullshit) most of it is still basically decent advice. Or at least it is a strain of thinking that's probably healthy for a lot of people to keep in mind, for various reasons.
posted by brennen at 12:11 PM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

on the one hand, it's some quietist fucking bullshit, and it's extremely shallow, and it's basically a placebo for thought, and it's sicky sweet methadone for the soul.

but on the other hand, if I take the Desiderata fan I know best as archetypal for the category of Desiderata fans in general... well, okay. My mother has had a wretched life on the whole. Grew up dirt poor in an abusive foster care situation, got married as early as she could to a man who turned out to be an abusive alcoholic, raised three kids in deep poverty working a series of godawful waitressing gigs, put herself through nursing school while working full time as a nurse's assistant, and is only now, in her 60s, making enough money to be financially secure, in a job that's finally non-abusive.

so like can't blame her for being like GIVE ME ALL THE METHADONE metaphorically speaking.

I...well. I kind of wish I could give your mom a hug now.

Perhaps it was obnoxious of me. There are many, many people who have suffered too much and who deserve real comfort on the scale of "everything, like really everything, everything that exists, is going to be okay, and in fact could not be otherwise." Everyone deserves comfort, in fact, but some people need more or need it in a more profound register, so to speak.

hate the palliatives love the people treating themselves with them.

Now that is as close to beauty and truth as anything in the poem.
posted by clockzero at 12:16 PM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

heh, this is how contrarian Metafilter is: one of the few things we can collectively bring ourselves to be grudgingly semi-positive about is Desiderata.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:17 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

The hell we're contrarian
posted by clockzero at 12:18 PM on October 15, 2015 [10 favorites]

NOooooo we are snarktarian.

Go placidly amongst the eager and earnest posters
posted by sammyo at 12:24 PM on October 15, 2015

I liked it in the 70's and I like it now. You guys are all loud and vexations.
posted by night_train at 12:29 PM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

Hah- I just found this and have adopted it as my personal mantra. It is soothing, and covers almost all the things that have caused me to want to commit felonies in the past. I am a recovered catholic who misses ritual tho- the Our Father is still not useful to those such as me.
posted by LuckyMonkey21 at 12:31 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I guess that it was well known enough during the early seventies that Nat Lamp thought that everyone would get what they were parodying.

I think the NL parody is an example of the kind of excellent parody that is enjoyable even if you don't know the source material. It's intrinsically funny, with lines like Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep. It riffs on common platitudes with Consider that two wrongs never make a right, but that three do and mocks the (then) current culture with things like Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate. And even if you don't know the source material you recognize the ubiquitous nature of the sort of thing it is.

That's based on my experience, anyway; I encountered it in print around the early 80s as a young teen, rather than hearing it sung within a year of the billboard hit in the early 70s. I loved it to death regardless. I think I had it tacked to my wall for a while.
posted by phearlez at 12:35 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

My mom had a framed poster of it in her bedroom when I was a kid, too. Funny how much of a mom-resonant thing it seems to be. (Particularly, perhaps, those of us whose moms came through a particularly rough start to life.) She passed away a few years ago, and that poster is one of the few physical reminders of her that I'd risk my life for in a fire.
posted by mykescipark at 12:43 PM on October 15, 2015 [6 favorites]

okay and to be fair I have no grounds to stand on re: judging the tackiness of other peoples' palliatives, given that I'm pretty sure at some point during the long grueling academic job hunt process the only thing that's going to be able to keep me going is this painting of a cosmonaut grasping two soviet-star comets in his outstretched hands while his giant blood-red-with-stars-on-it cape flaps behind him as he stands astride three what-I'm-just-going-to-go-ahead-and-pretend-are-thestrals flying through psychedelic dreamspace.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

see also Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
posted by yhbc at 12:49 PM on October 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

See also Kalhil Gibran's The Prophet, parodied as Kehlog Albran's The Profit
posted by murphy slaw at 1:01 PM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Desiderata works perfectly well for those in need of calm, a positive outlook, and can't afford expensive therapy. Sure it's corny and platitudinous but it resonates with those who are at least trying to live a decent, examined life. Better than marketing slogans, which have completely taken over our lives.
posted by etaoin at 1:02 PM on October 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

Wow, all that condescension about palliatives and passivity and quietists and whatnot.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
I bet this was delightful to hear for reactionaries (including those wearing centrist's clothing) in the 70's. Feminists, civil rights activists, and egalitarians of political economy all tend to be loud and aggressive because otherwise shit never changes.

Not so much. Many of the people you mention who were changing things were doing civil disobedience or sit-ins, and were being opposed or attacked by "loud and aggressive" types. Seems odd I would have to say this, or maybe you're just being facetious, but I really don't think a single John-Bircher, Nixon supporter, male chauvinist pig, or KKK member was comforted by the words of the Desiderata.
posted by aught at 1:23 PM on October 15, 2015 [11 favorites]

I think it made an impression on me because I am from Baltimore and thought for years it was written there. I couldn't image a better foil to the noise and violence I encountered growing up. For a poor kid from Highlandtown, this poem never seemed saccharine. It seemed like a way out. Maybe I am just an old softie.
posted by extraheavymarcellus at 1:24 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

It was hanging on the wall of the bookstore I always went to as a teenager. I always thought it was some ancient thing (biblical? indian? medieval?). I was floored when I learned years later that it was a modern-ish development.
posted by miyabo at 1:25 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

As the article states, the Lampoon was specifically targeting this version that was all over the radio at the time.

And the parody version in musical form was played almost every week on the Dr Demento show.
posted by aught at 1:26 PM on October 15, 2015

oh my god yes I am so condescending. it's a real problem.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:32 PM on October 15, 2015

"Deteriorata" is quite possibly my favourite piece of writing in the whole of English. "Desiderata", not so much.

Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle and mutilate.
posted by namewithoutwords at 1:35 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Desiderata, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and The Prophet are all Proustian triggers to my middle-childhood (tween hadn't yet entered the vernacular), along with "Where Did I Come From?", "The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes", Hardy Boys mysteries, and Judy Blume.

All of which is to say, thanks for posting. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane!
posted by ElGuapo at 1:36 PM on October 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

All of which is to say, thanks for posting. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane!

We must be very close in age; that was my reaction too!
posted by TedW at 1:48 PM on October 15, 2015

For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadrupede.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the musick
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.
posted by aramaic at 1:53 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I had never encountered Desiderata until my junior year of college, when I had to take a leave of absence due to my very first depressive episode (one of many). I went back to my hometown and saw my old family doctor as I cried my eyes out about how worthless I felt. He gave me a copy of Desiderata and read out loud to me "you are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here." It may be corny, true, but I will never forget that moment of pure kindness at one of my loneliest, saddest times, and I've always treasured that memory.
posted by Neely O'Hara at 2:06 PM on October 15, 2015 [19 favorites]

For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.
For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.
For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadrupede.
For he can tread to all the measures upon the musick
For he can swim for life.
For he can creep.

Squirrels! We're talking about squirrels, right?
posted by clockzero at 2:12 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

I remember hearing Deteriorata on the KSFO Comedy Hour in the 1970s and not realizing it was supposed to be a parody of something. Still hilarious.

Consider that two wrongs never make a right....but three do.
posted by mogget at 2:23 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

When I saw this post, I had a memory of seeing 'Desiderata' in Analog magazine sometime in the mid-60s, but I thought the memory must be mistaken because my visual image was of a page format larger than Analog's. Yet Analog did publish it in 1965, but without attribution and dating it to 1692, and it happened to appear during Analog's very brief fling with a larger format.

But that's where it might get a little interesting.

According to Daniel Nester's article for The Poetry Foundation:

The following story, though, is not in dispute. On July 14, 1965, Adlai Stevenson, former Democratic presidential candidate and US Ambassador to the United Nations, died in London. Syndicated columnist Betty Beale, a friend of Stevenson’s, found a marked-up copy of “Desiderata” on Stevenson’s bedside table. Stevenson’s plan, Beale wrote, was to include “Desiderata” on his 1965 Christmas card. In her next column, Beale shared this information and quoted from the poem, saying that it was found in Old St. Paul’s. Her follow-up column corrected the mistake and clarified that Max Ehrmann was the author of “Desiderata,” but the confusion stuck. Perhaps people wanted to believe this truly was a piece of American wisdom literature from the 17th century.

But the Analog version came out in March of 1965, several months before Stevenson died.

I wouldn't say that Betty Beale did not find 'Desiderata' on Stevenson's nightstand, but the story is an awfully good hook to hang a column on.
posted by jamjam at 2:33 PM on October 15, 2015

Maybe Adlai Stevenson read Analog. Could be it was bedtime reading.
posted by larrybob at 2:42 PM on October 15, 2015

I really don't think a single John-Bircher, Nixon supporter, male chauvinist pig, or KKK member was comforted by the words of the Desiderata.

Really? Nixon received over 60 percent of the popular vote. I find it inconceivable that you wouldn't find Desiderata on a poster or in a greeting card in the homes of a great many of those people. The poem isn't an uncompromising manifesto in favor of social justice, it's a collection of vague, generally acceptable statements.

I suspect the reason for the poem's popularity is that it's a pretty inkblot that can be interpreted as one sees fit. I have no doubt that "loud and aggressive persons" and "the dull and ignorant" signified very different things to different people.
posted by lore at 2:44 PM on October 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

Eh, I like it. I first came across it painted on the wall of a bar in Toronto while rather drunk and in town for a debate trip, and it seemed an incredibly soothing salve to someone who was two miserable years into a four year program that I only loathe more as time went on. "Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence." is still one of my favourite quotes, less because I care about not being a loud vexatious agitator (because lol) but more as a reminder to my anxiety-ridden jerk-brain that mental peace is an option at all.

The more I've re-read this the more issue I've taken with bits and pieces of the rest of the poem, but this line is still great: You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
posted by Phire at 2:52 PM on October 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

The poem isn't an uncompromising manifesto in favor of social justice, it's a collection of vague, generally acceptable statements.

heh

I suspect the reason for the poem's popularity is that it's a pretty inkblot that can be interpreted as one sees fit. I have no doubt that "loud and aggressive persons" and "the dull and ignorant" signified very different things to different people.

That's a good way to put it. You should write more, kid, you got a head for it!
posted by clockzero at 3:17 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: grudgingly semi-positive
posted by chavenet at 3:18 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

For nearly 90 years, Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” has gone placidly amid all the noise and haste, finding peace in silence, telling us to strive to be happy.

Actually all I personally think about when I see this poem is the stressful 3-month period I spent about 10 years ago receiving a series of threatening legal letters from Robert L. Bell, the copyright holder of the poem, because I had quoted it on a website.

Talk about noise and haste.
posted by mmoncur at 3:23 PM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

Thanks for the Analog tip. I'm off to see if I can get a copy. I'm curious is Max Ehrmann is mentioned as the author, or if it has the "Old St. Paul's" tagline.

mmoncur: I would love to hear about Bell's correspondence with you. If you get a chance, I'd love to hear about that.

"Desiderata" was reprinted in several places from 1927-1965--the New York Times in 1933, all kinds of devotional-religious magazines and what might be called entrepreneurial/motivational publications.

But it wasn't until it appeared next to Adlai Stevenson's beside table did it make all the national newspapers at the time, and people besides Ehrmann's widow started selling prints. At the same time, it was being mimeographed and made into posters, thanks to Old St. Paul's in Baltimore. These are merely the most popular instances of "Desiderata"; there are so many others.
posted by Banalbany at 3:40 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Oh, my. Desiderata, J.L. Seagull, and The Prophet. Yeah, high school.

The only thing I remember from the radio version is that gospel-ish backup choir rocking "You are a chiiiild of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here..."

Gotta follow these links when I get home.
posted by lhauser at 4:09 PM on October 15, 2015

I'm curious is Max Ehrmann is mentioned as the author, or if it has the "Old St. Paul's" tagline.

My memory is that Analog gave it the full, unironic 'found in Old St. Paul's' treatment, and where the notes section of my link says "The attribution (uncredited) and the date (1692) of the "Desiderata" was corrected.", I'm not sure what's being referred to -- the copy of the page that appears to be for sale for $0.50, perhaps?
posted by jamjam at 4:48 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Crap From The Past did a Desideratathon years ago.
posted by wheelieman at 4:51 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

A black-light Snoopy dancing poster and this poem on fake parchment with artfully "burned" edges were two of the main decorative items in my tweenage bedroom. Oh, and a bunch of the neon flower stickers. Oh yes, and a paisley Indian tapestry bedspread.
posted by agatha_magatha at 4:52 PM on October 15, 2015 [3 favorites]

Having grown up in the 705s, I do remember loving the sentiment of the poem in my younger years when there was still hope. Nowadays, I find it saccharin since life is no longer filled with hope for either the present or the future. (Never did like the seagull, which came along a bit later - course, I grew up at the coast so I knew seagills were assholes.)

I wonder what is the current "poem" that will seem dated when younger folks look back at their youth ..... are there any ubiquitos mantras today?
posted by mightshould at 5:15 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

My grandmother had this poem framed on her wall. My other grandmother had "If" by Rudyard Kipling. I always conflated them in my head.

I prefer "If", honestly, but I've found that I can't actually fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run. It doesn't matter though, because I'll never be a man anyway.
posted by misfish at 5:28 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Having grown up in the 705s

I realize this is merely a typo, but suddenly I feel like maybe you're a Japanese vampire who grew up near the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan and spent your youth strangling (and then feeding upon) errant bandits who made the mistake of staying the night.
posted by aramaic at 6:02 PM on October 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

In the brighter timelines (I'm not sure we can still reach them from this one anymore), this poem is the Desiderata of 2040.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:15 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

For a long time, as a kid, I thought it was some kind of Biblical-era thing, what with all the imperative sentences. And I thought "Desiderata" was the name of the author, which made it feel even more ancient, somehow.
I also sometimes conflated it with "Footprints in the Sand", because the two things appeared near each other in the two contexts I most saw them in: My grandmother's house, and mail-order catalogs.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 6:59 PM on October 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

If . . .

From The Flintstones episode, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame"; Fred gets a side-gig as a little league umpire, and reads from The Power of Positive Umpiring:

If you can keep your head while those about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
And little children whistle and boo

If you can smile while all your friends desert you
Remember: sticks and stones may break your bones
but names will never hurt you

If you can stay calm when the crowd calls you dumb
Then and only then you'll be an umpire -- you bum.

posted by Herodios at 8:56 PM on October 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

My 46-y.o. brother recently passed away due to complications from alcoholism. He drank, I believe, because he never could come to peace with who he was in the world - he always felt like he didn't quite measure up to his ideal of who he should be.

I had to do all of the planning for his service - my mom and younger brother were in no shape to do it - music, eulogy, other speakers, etc. When it came time to list everything on the service program, I was stumped as to a verse/phrase to include on one of the pages. Then I remembered the Desiderata.

"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."

I wanted so badly for my brother to believe this - that he was exactly who he should be. I'm grateful to Ehrmann for writing these perfect, poignant words.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 11:55 PM on October 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

Already dated, not current, but Sunscreen is a bit of a millennial Desiderata.
posted by lokta at 1:05 AM on October 16, 2015 [7 favorites]

also that one David Foster Wallace speech about how everyone at the grocery store is terrible but even so you should try to keep from killing yourself for as long as you can.

(okay I'll cop to having occasionally posted DFW pastiche in the interest of getting favorites from strangers...)
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 9:02 AM on October 16, 2015

You Can't Tip a Buick, apparently that painting is of Yuri Gargarin. Gorgeous, inn'em.
posted by glasseyes at 3:33 PM on October 16, 2015

Ooh. Palekh painting.
posted by glasseyes at 3:46 PM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

glasseyes, those are gorgeous.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:56 PM on October 16, 2015

I've always preferred Burroughs' "Advice for Young People". Especially over beats by Laswell and Material. Or even the author himself. Probably indicative of some mental deficiency of mine.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 7:02 PM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]