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.
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