Lawyers,Poets, and Poetry

Lawyers | Poets | Poetry

Professor James R. Elkins
College of Law :: West Virginia University
Fall, 2006

Assignments Archive

Tuesday, August 22, 2006: Getting Underway

We'll do some of the usual and customary things required to get a law school course underway. I'll try to respond to the following questions: What is the course? What is it all about? How did it come to be offered? What will I be required to do? Will I be asked to write poetry? Do I need to be a poet to take the course? Is this one of those courses that you need to be a literature major to take? Does the course have anything remotely related to being a lawyer and practicing law?

Note: Reading assignments will be signaled by the use of the page symbol as it appears preceeding this sentence.

Note2: Assigned poems will be designated with the small page symobl.

Note3: The golden maze symbol will be used to signal that you are being asked to peruse and determine how you may put to use an on-line resource.

One must have some curiosity about the origins of Lawyers, Poets, and Poetry. I've attempted to provide an account of how I began my work on lawyer/poets and it may be of some interest to you as we begin the course.

The Remnants of a Lost & Forgotten Library: On Finding the Lawyer Poets [James R. Elkins] [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30, 2006]

The history of lawyer poets in this country is a venerable one; a history I hope you will aspire to learn something about. When I edited, what I take to be the first-ever collection of lawyers' poetry in 2004, my first inclination was to publish the poetry and only the poetry, and publish it without an introduction of any kind. Some of the poets who contributed to the issue argued against a historical publication of the kind I had compiled without a proper introduction. At the urging of some of the contributers to Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers, I hesitantly set about to write an introduction.

An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers [James R. Elkins] [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2006] [The essay can be found in one of the assigned text for the course.]

I decided to write an introduction only when several of the contributors to the anthology convinced me that readers would be curious about the editor of such a collection and that I should, in some fashion, respond to the obvious questions: What in the world does he think he's doing in collecting and publishing these poems?

Since this is a course about poets and poetry, there'll be no better time than now to begin reading poetry. For our first class, I'd like you to peruse the poetry of contemporary lawyers (some in the active practice of law, some who have abandoned the legal profession for other pursuits). You'll find the poetry we read in course in three issues of the Legal Studies Forum. The most recent issue of LSF is being provided to you--compliments of of LSF--and you will have to purchase the issues published in 2004 and 2005.

For our first class, I'd like for you to pick out two poems that you will be willing to read to the class, and that you will be willing to talk about. The poems need not be law-related. You'll need to think through, and be able to say something about your selection of the particular poems you've chosen. You don't have to explain your choice in any kind of formal or academic terms. You will be required to say something about what drew you to the poems you choose.

We'll continue to read the the poetry of contemporary lawyers, and we will discuss your selections each class that we meet. You can make the poetry, and your commentary on it, part of your class portfolio of writings. You will work on this portfolio individually, and it will be a part of your final grade.

Four of the most well-known lawyer poets are: Wallace Stevens, Archibald MacLeish, Charles Reznikoff, and Edgar Lee Masters. As part of your work for the course you will be asked to choose one of the four poets, and working with a colleague (or alone if you strongly prefer), write a paper about the selected poet. The paper will constitute 50% of your grade for the course.

In order to determine which of the poets you want to work with, you'll need to begin to familiarize yourself with the four poets. The way to begin is to peruse the webpages I've constructed for each of the poets on the website, Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry.

Wallace Stevens

Archibald MacLeish

Edgar Lee Masters

Charles Reznikoff

I have selected these four poets, not because they are the best lawyer poets in American history (although Wallace Stevens is acclaimed as a great poet), but because they are each, in their own way, relatively well-known in poetry and literary circles. Another reason to focus on these four poets is that we have significant biographies of three of the poets (Stevens, MacLeish, Masters) and autobiographical writings by all four. There is also a good deal of scholarly literary work about all four, Stevens foremost among them.

The four poets are dramatically different in regards to the poetry they wrote, the way they lived their lives, how they dealt with being lawyers, and their personality. They are interesting men, men worth knowing, men worth thinking about.

When deciding which of the poets you want to work on, you'll need to peruse the links for each poet on the webpage to learn their biography and their poetry. If the materials you find on the webpage are insufficient, you should talk with the instructor, check available holdings on the poet in the library, or request books on the poet from the instructor.

Note: You may find, for some reason, that you simply cannot bear the thought of working on any of the four selected poets. With the permission of the instructor, you can select a poet lawyer of your own choosing. You may have someone in mind, or find someone by way of the Strangers to Us All website. If you do not have someone in mind, and feel the need to work on someone other than Stevens, MacLeish, Masters, or Reznikoff, you are invited to consider the following: John William Corrington (1932-1968) Pauli Murray (1910-1985) Charles L. Black (1915-2001) Lillian Blanche Fearing (1863-1901) Charles Erskine Scott Wood (1852-1944) Edward Robeson Taylor (1838-1923) John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867) William Haines Lytle (1826–1863) Albert Pike (1809-1891) William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

I've chosen the above poets, again, not because of the overwhelming significance of their poetry, but the fact that we have interesting published biographical (and in some instances, autobiographical) information available (with perhaps the exception of Lillian Blanche Fearing, for which there is quite little available information).

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Four Major Poets: We'll continue our discussion of the four central poets: Stevens, MacLeish, Reznikoff, and Masters. I'd like to have your final decision on which poet you intend to work on by our third class on September 12th. Class presentations will be scheduled beginning at the end of October. I'll map out a basic protocol for this work so you don't spend half the semester trying to figure out how to get started.

Wallace Stevens Archibald MacLeish

Edgar Lee Masters Charles Reznikoff

Reading LSF Poetry: Continue your reading of poetry in the LSF issues, select poems which you find most interesting and we'll attempt to discuss the poems in class. You should now begin to try to write about the poems you selected to present and discuss in class. By writing about the poems, I mean you should address questions such as the following: What does it mean to me to read poetry? Of what possible use can poetry be in a person's life? In reading the poetry of lawyers, is it possible to speculate about the striking number of lawyers who try to write poetry?

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Writing about the Poems You Discover: As part of the course, you will want to pull together a portfolio of poems that you can talk about, which you can begin to discuss in some way. I don't have a format for this kind of writing; I am now undertaking this kind of writing for the first time myself. For my first effort, see, A Return to the Poetry of Lawyers published in the Legal Studies Forum.

I do not mean to suggest that what you write about the poetry you read should look like what I've undertaken. Indeed, my own efforts may take on a different focus as we proceed through the course. What I hope to do is, through the course of the semester, read all the poetry in the three LSF issues and write a longer report of that reading.

Work with a Historical Lawyer/Poet: Please send me an email and let me know when you want to stop by my office to pick up the material on the poet you've chosen to work with.

Reading the LSF Collected Poetry of Lawyers: Continue your reading of poetry in the LSF issues, select poems which you find most interesting and we'll discuss the poems in class. You should begin to write about the poems you are selecting to present and discuss in class. By writing about the poems, I mean that you should address questions such as the following: What does it mean to me to read poetry? Of what possible use can poetry be in a person's life? In reading the poetry of lawyers, is it possible to speculate about the striking number of lawyers who try to write poetry?

Poems about Poetry

Peruse the LSF poetry issues to see if you can find poems about poetry and poets. What, if anything, do you find in the poems about poets and poetry that might help us figure out what we can do with poetry?

Read the following poems on poetry, the first is a short group of poems by Archibald MacLeish and Wallace Stevens. Then read the poems by the non-lawyer poets.

Which of the poems come closest, given what you understand about poetry, to say something you find interesting/intriguing/insightful about what it is poets do and what it is we might do with poetry? How do these poems about poetry help or obscure your efforts to understand poetry? Do you find anything in these poems about poetry that suggest any connections between the work of the poet and the student of your law? [Consider for example, J.K. Stephen's The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger] Between the work of the poet and the lawyer?

Ars Poetica (Archibald MacLeish)

Of Modern Poetry (Wallace Stevens)

A High-Toned Old Christian Woman (Wallace Stevens)

Poetry is a Destructive Force (Wallace Stevens)

?Poetry (Pablo Neruda)

Poet's Obligation (Pablo Neruda)

Young Poets (Nicanor Parra) (trans. by Miller Williams)

Why I Am a Poet (Donald Crasswell)

Your Poem, Man . . . (Edward Lueders)

Teaching the Ape to Write Poetry (James Tate)

Introduction to Poetry (Billy Collins)

What is Poetry? (John Asberry)

How Poetry Comes to Me (Gary Snyder)

As For Poets (Gary Snyder)

Salvage This (Jerry Martien)

Eating Poetry (Mark Strand)

How To Eat a Poem (Eve Merriam)

Reply to the Question: "How can You Become a Poet?" (Eve Merriam)

Poetics (Paul Smyth)

The Thought Fox (Ted Hughes) [commentary]

For Poets (Al Young)

Poetry, A Natural Thing (Robert Duncan)

Poetry (Marianne Moore)

Evaluation of an Unwritten Poem (Wislawa Szymborska)

The Joy of Writing (Wislawa Szymborska)

A Loaf of Poetry (Naoshi Koriyama)

The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger (J.K. Stephen)

To The Stone-Cutters (Robinson Jeffers)

The Art of Poetry (Jorge Luis Borges)

The Poet (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A Poet! He Hath Put His Heart to School (William Wordsworth)

Misc. (Historical Poems)

On the Future of Poetry (Henry Austin Dobson)

Ode to Fancy (Joseph Warton)

Ode on the Poetical Character (William Collins)

September 12, 2006

Work with a Contemporary Poet: After reading the work of one of the contemporary lawyer poets, contact the poet to see what you might learn from them. I have prepared a list of the lawyer poets that I've worked most closely with in publishing the three LSF collections and who might be amendable to talking with you. The list contains a brief bio, mailing address, and email address. Email me and I'll send you the list.

You are welcome to contact any of the lawyer poets who are listed on the Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry website. I do not have the poetry from all those listed on the website, and have email and mailing addresses for some, but not all, of those who are listed. The Strangers to Us All rosters (and bios) are located at:

Contemporary Lawyer Poets - Part I

Contemporary Lawyer Poets - Part II

Legal Verse: For the poetry in this class, I'd like for you to read all the law-related poems in LSF 2004, 2005, 2006:

Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004)

Greg Hobbs, "You Put Your Noodle (p. 84)

Lawrence Russ, "Found Objects" (pp. 188-189)

Paul Homer, "Lament" (p. 247), "Summary Judgment" (p. 255), "A Statutorily Protected Class" (p. 263), "A Literary Guide to Advanced Legal Writing" (p. 275), "Draft of a Lease" (p. 281), "The Lease" (282)

Nancy A. Henry, "Baby's First Bath" (p. 305), "Wax" (pp. 307-308)

David Bristol, "Judgment at Lums" (p. 388)

Jendi Reiter, "1-800-DIVORCE" (pp. 35-351)

John Perrault, "Palace of Justice" (p. 368)

Ace Boggess, "Law School" (p. 386)

Steven M. Richman, "Letters of Credit" (p. 407), "Relocation" (p. 408), "The Old Judge" (p. 410), "Opening Statement" (p. 411)

Barbara B. Rollins, "The Man Child" (pp. 415-416)

Richard S. Bank, "Commonwealth v. Wright, 317 A.2nd 271" (p. 417), "End of an Era" (p. 418), "PDPOM #102" (pp. 419-420), "PDPOM #21" (p. 421), "In re Grand Jury Matter 87-759" (p. 422), "Taking the Damage Out" (p. 433)

Lawrence Joseph, "Curriculum Vitae" (pp. 535-536)

Martín Espada, "Offerings to an Ulcerated God" (p. 551), "The Prisoners of Saint Lawrence" (p. 552), "Sing in the Voice of a God Even Atheists Can Hear" (pp. 553-554), "Tires Stacked in the Hallways of Civilization" (p. 555), "DSS Dream" (p. 556)

Simon Perchik, untitled (p. 603)

Greg McBride, "After Memo-Writing" (p. 661)

Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29 (2005)

Lori March, untitled (p. 273)

Richard Krech, "Life on Appeal (p. 316), "In Chambers" (pp. 317-318)

Katya Giritsky, "South Court" (p. 399), "On Teaching Gang Law Seminars" (p. 400)

Ann Tweedy, "courtroom recess" (p. 411), "touring juvenile hall as part of the court of appeals" (p. 412)

Lee Wm. Atkinson, "Pattern Killer Ensnared" (p. 415)

Kenneth King, "Lawyer Dog" (pp. 419-420)

Richard Bank, "Testation" (p. 421), "PDPOM #14--El Chupacabra" (p. 422)

M.C. Bruce, "Abogado!" (pp. 423-424), "Miracles" (p. 425), "Singing in the Courtroom" (p. 426), "Good Morning" (p. 427), "The Jury Returns" (p. 431)

Michael Sowder, "Former Attorney Offers Prayer of Thanksgiving For His New Job" (p. 477)

Paul Homer, "Informed Consent" (pp. 484-485), "The Trial of Joshua (a/k/a Jesus)" (pp. 488-493)

Howard Gofreed, "Neighbors" (p. 500), "Apostrophe" (pp. 501-502)

Evie Shockley, "the ballad of anita hill" (pp. 506-507)

Ace Boggess, ". . . Like All Petitioners He Must Wait (How Many Cups of Coffee in an Hour?)" (p. 545)

Law/lawyer-related Poetry in Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30 (2006):

Jesse Mountjoy, "Driving to a Tax Seminar / Notre Dame, Indiana" (p. 364)

David Leightty, "Off the Record" (p. 380), "The Courthouse Starlings" (p. 381), "Constitutionals" & "In the Office of an Attorney Specializing in Accident Cases" (p. 383)

Richard Krech, "Premeditated Deliberated & Intentional" (p. 392)

Lawrence Joseph, "The Game Changed" (pp. 480-481)

Lee Robinson, "Work" (pp. 560-561), "The Rules of Evidence" (p. 562), "Grounds for Divorce" (pp. 563-564)

Susan Ayres, "The Beauty Bar" (pp. 575-576)

Seth Abramson, "If You Ask Your Attorney to Be Concise" (p. 579)

Warren Wolfson, "Eleventh Floor Lies" (p. 587), "Misplaced Blame" (p. 588)

John Charles Kleefeld, "Boilerplate" (pp. 589-590)

Ann Tweedy, "Events Leading up to an Afterlife Meeting Between Terri Schiavo and Manadal al-Jamadi" (p. 620)

Rachel Contreni Flynn, "Poem on the Road to Depose" (p. 690), "Slip & Fall" (p. 692)

Read, also, Tim Nolan's poems, "Work" and "Oklahoma," in his article, Poetry and the Practice of Law, S. Dak. L. Rev. 677, 687-690(2001)

Note: The best way to read the law/lawyer-related poems in LSF is to read the legal verse and then the other poems by the same poet. (What is the relationship of the law/lawyer-related verse to the poet's other poems?)

More Legal Verse:

Hank Lazer, "Law-Poems"

Resources: Legal Verse

Tuesday, September 19, 2006: Lawyer Poets Talk about Poetry and Law

Tim Nolan, "Poetry and the Practice of Law" [So. Dak. L. Rev.] [on-line text]

[In conjunction with Nolan's Wallace Stevens cinnamon bun story, see Geoffrey Lehman's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Twelve Cinnamon Buns"][on-line text][[Goeffery Lehmann has practiced as a solicitor, lectured in law at the University of New South Wales, and is now a partner in the international accounting firm Price Waterhouse.]

[Tim Nolan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1954. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1978, with a B.A. in English. He and his wife Kate moved to New York City in 1978 where he obtained an M.F.A. degree in writing from Columbia University, worked as an archivist at the Whitney Museum, and read the poetry slush pile for Paris Review. He returned to Minnesota in 1985 and received his J.D. degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1989. Nolan's poems have appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares, Poetry East, and other journals.]

Tim Nolan's Poetry

Off the Record: An Anthology of Poetry by Lawyers
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2006] [pp. 391-398]

Intelligible Hues
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29, 2005] [pp. 535-539]

Lawyers & Poets
[Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30, 2006] [pp. 675-683]

Carl Reisman -- Strangers to Us All (on being a poet & lawyer) [on-line text]

Reisman's Poetry
[forthcoming, Legal Studies Forum, 2007]

Gerry Spence, "Winning Ways with Juries" (Association of Trial Lawyers of America, 1985) | Audio cassette | Spence Commentary: On Being Afraid | The Trespasser | Gerry Spence -- Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

In conjunction with the Spence audio, consider:

Tim Nolan's comment: "As both a lawyer and a poet, my best work has been based on hunch and instinct. What might not initially seem to be a good approach, either legally or poetically, often ends up being the best possible approach, because it is my own." Tim Nolan, Poetry and the Practice of Law, 46 S. Dak. L. Rev. 677, 692 (2001)]

Carl Reisman's observation that "poetry demands that the poet be true to himself." Reisman goes on to note that: "Lawyers have tremendous power in our society and with that power comes responsibility. An education in the humanities, that encouraged a love of literature, the native language and soil, that taught the value of sitting in the dark and finding one's own peculiar truth, might produce happier, more thoughtful and caring lawyers, than does a legal education based on intimidation, competition, and conformity. Poetry might be the essential part of such a curriculum, a means of helping the law and the lawyer find their songs."

Gerry Spence, "The Wyoming I Knew" [Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2004] [pp. 99-103]

TS Kerrigan, unpublished interview [scheduled for publication in the Legal Studies Forum in 2007] [TS Kerrigan--Strangers to Us All] [Before the Supreme Court--Kerrigan's account of his first Supreme Court appearance]

TS Kerrigan, Poetry, 27 Legal Stud. F. 283 (2003), pp. 283-302

TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F. , vol. 28 (2004), pp. 221-232

TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol 29 (2005), pp. 459-472

TS Kerrigan, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol 30 (2006), pp. 655-667

Ruthann Robson & James R. Elkins--A Conversation, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29, pp. 145-171

[James R. Elkins, A Poetics--of and for--Ruthann Robson, 8 N.Y.C. L. Rev. 363 (2005) [on-line text]

Ruthann Robson, selected poems, Legal Stud. F. , vol. 29 (2005), pp. 95-144

Simon Perchik: An Interview, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29 (2005), [Simon Perchik--Strangers To Us All]

Simon Perchik, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 28 (2004), pp. 587-633

Simon Perchik, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 29 (2005), pp. 541-549

Lawrence Joseph, Theories of Poetry, Theories of Law, 46 Vand. L. Rev. 1227 (1993) [Lawrence Joseph -- Strangers to Us All]

Lawrence Joseph, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 30 (2006) (pp. 469-482)

Lawrence Joseph, selected poems, Legal Stud. F., vol. 28 (2004) (pp. 535-548)

A Final Reading:

Michael L. Richmond, Can Shakespeare Make You a Partner?, 20 St. Mary's L.J. 895 (1989)

Tuesday, September 26, 2006: Lawyer|Poets Read|Speak Their Poetry

In-Class Audio Presentations

"Gerry Spence's Wyoming The Landscape" | Poetry by Gerry Spence | CD |

Gerry Spence, "The Wyoming I Knew"
Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28, 2004, pp. 99-103

Gerry Spence was born, raised and educated in Wyoming. He graduated from the University of Wyoming Law School in 1952. Spence spent his early years as a prosecutor and gradually developed an insurance clientele. After successfully defending insurance companies for many years he decided to quit representing corporations, insurance companies, banks, and big businesses, and he began to to represent individuals.

Spence first gained national recognition when he received a $10,500,000 verdict against Kerr-McGee in the Karen Silkwood case on behalf of her children. Later he earned a $26,535,000 verdict against Penthouse for Miss Wyoming and successfully defended Ed Cantrell in a Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case. He received a $52,000,000 verdict against McDonald's Corporation, the fast-food chain, on behalf of a small, bankrupt, family-owned ice cream company for McDonald's breach of an oral contract. A Utah medical malpractice verdict of over $4,000,000 established a new standard for nursing care in Utah. In 1990, he won acquittal for Imelda Marcos on multiple charges after a three and one-half month trial in New York City. In 1992, he received a $15,000,000 verdict for emotional damages incurred by his quadriplegic client because a major insurance company refused to pay the $50,000 policy more than twenty years earlier. Two weeks later his client received a judgment awarding $18,500,000 in punitive damages. In 1993, Spence successfully defended Randy Weaver on murder, assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the famous Idaho federal standoff case. He has not lost a jury trial since 1969, and he has never lost a criminal case.

Spence is the founder and director of the nonprofit Trial Lawyer's College, where lawyers learn to try cases on behalf of the people. The Trial Lawyers College also conducts a yearly death penalty seminar for public defenders and others defending against the death penalty. Spence also founded the New Judicial College for judges, an annual retreat for judges at Thunderhead Ranch. [Gerry Spence--Strangers to Us All]

Lillian Kennedy, "Tomorrow in the Mountains of Vermont" | CD recording | for Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry (and the students at the College of Law, West Virginia University) | "Tomorrow in the Mountains of Vermont," and other poems :: see Legal Studies Forum, vol. 27 (2003) |

Lillian Baker Kennedy, a Maine native, received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. Kennedy has an active domestic relations practice in Lewiston, Maine. Her first collection of poetry, Tomorrow After Night, was published by Bay River Press in 2003. Her poetry and the sculpture of Kerstin Engman was displayed at the University of Maine’s Lewiston/Auburn gallery, November, 2003, in an exhibit called, “Earthly Beatitudes,” the title of the featured poem. [Lillian Kennedy--Strangers to Us All]

Tuesday, October 3, 2006: Lawyer|Poets Read|Speak Their Poetry

In-Class Audio Presentations

Martín Espada, "Now the Dead Will Dance the Mambo" | CD | Leapfrog Press AudioBooks | 2004 |

Martín Espada's parents immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico and settled in New York. Martín was born in 1957; he grew up Brooklyn. He practiced law as a tenant lawyer and is now a professor of English literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where he teaches creative writing, Latino poetry, and the work of Pablo Neruda.

Espada's seventh collection of poetry, Alabanza: New and Selected Poems (1982-2002) was published in the 2003 by W.W. Norton and Company. His previous collections include Imagine the Angels of Bread (W.W. Norton and Company, 1996) and Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover's Hands (Curbstone,1990). He is also the author of a book of essays, Zapata's Disciple, published by South End Press in 1998. [Martín Espada--Strangers to Us All]

Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004), pp. 549-556

R. S. Bank, "Some of the Secrets" | CD | 2000 |

Richard Bank was born in 1942, in Philadelphia. He graduated from Villanova Law School in 1968 and took up the practice of law, first in general practice, and then in 1972, as a public defender. He resigned from the Public Defender’s office in 1979 to resume private practice, where he handled primarily plaintiff's negligence cases. In 1982, he returned to the Public Defender’s office to try major felony cases. Bank has taught continuing legal education courses on jury techniques, coached the trial advocacy team at Villanova Law School, and taught criminal justice at Villanova. Bank’s poetry has appeared in numerous poetry journals and in a chapbook entitled Some of the Secrets (2002). He has also taught poetry at the Philadelphia Writers Conference.

Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 28 (2004)
Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 29 (2005)

Poetry--Legal Studies Forum, vol. 30 (2006)

Audio Presentations Available on the Web:

Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata" | on-line spoken poem |

Max Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1872. His parents had emigrated to the United States in the late 1840s from Bavaria, Germany. Ehrmann attended De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana (1890-1894). While at De Pauw, he was editor of the school newspaper, Depauw Weekly. He then studied law and philosophy at Harvard and in 1898 published his first book, A Farrago.

Returning to Terre Haute in 1898, Ehrmann practiced law as Deputy States Attorney for two years and then worked for a number of years as credit manager and attorney for his brother's manufacturing business.

At the age of 40, Ehrmann left the family business and took up writing full-time. He would eventually wrote more than 20 books, as well as numerous pamphlets, essays, and poetry. His most acclaimed work, "Desiderata," was published in 1927. "Desiderata" has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and anthologies and was produced as a single record by Warner Brothers in 1971. The poem has generated substantial confusion and litigation over its copyright.

Max Ehrmann died September 9, 1945.

[This bio of Ehrmann is an edited version of one prepared by Susan Dehler, archivist at the Vigo County Public Library (Indiana) which is used by permission of Ms. Dehler.]

Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)--Strangers to Us All

Wallace Stevens Reads | Harper Audio | on-line reading |

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)--Strangers to Us All

Tuesday, October 10. The musical program for the evening is as follows:

Lawyer|Poet|Singer|Songwriters

John Perrault

"Country Matters" | Rock Weed Music | 1988/1995 |

"P.L.M. Before You Go" | Rock Weed Recordings | 1997 (w ith Barbara Londong & Jim MacDougall) |

"Rough Cuts" | Rock Weed Music | 1998 | (with Mike Rodgers) |

John Perrault, The Ballad of Louis Wagner and Other England Stories in Verse (Peter E. Randall, Publisher, 2003) (accompanying CD)

| Poems -- Legal Studies Forum | Five Poems | "Third Shift" |

John Perrault is a New Hampshire teacher, folksinger, musician, lawyer, and Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Perrault was raised in Maine and graduated from Providence College in 1965. He received his Masters degree in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire. He taught school for 10 years and then obtained his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center. With John Ahlgren, he formed the law partnership of Ahlgren & Perrault in 1982. Perrault has appeared in concerts throughout New England singing his ballads. His music albums include: Thief in the Night (1977), New Hampshire (1981), Tenants in Common (1984), Country Matters (1988), Country Matters (1995), PLM: Before You Go (1997) [Source: Personal communication with John Perrault]

Perrault's poetry has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Commonwealth, Key West Review, and Poet Lore. His first published collection of verse, The Ballad of Louis Wagner: & Other New England Stories in Verse was published in 2003 by Peter E. Randall, Publisher. Perrault's latest collection of poetry, Here Comes the Old Man Now was published by Oyster River Press in 2005.[Source: Ballad of the Barrister & Personal communication with John Perrault] [Barrister Balladeer--New Hamphsire Public Radio]

Jeff Talmaldge

"Secret Anniversaries" | Bozart Records | 1999 |

"The Spinning of the World" | Bozart Records | 2000 |

"Bad Tattoo" | Bozart Records | 2001 | |

"Blissville" | Corazong Records | 2006 |

Stephanie Haffner

"sub urban poet: the lawyer songs" | gorgeous giant music/BMI | 2003

Folkpop songstress Stephanie Haffner sings about boys, girls, coffee, anxiety, redevelopment, suburbia, rock-n-roll & all manner of real life, along her guitar work. Haffner started composing songs when she walked the "99 acres" between the Gallup New Mexico school bus stop and home, singing to herself. She started writing songs during a break from studies at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall school of law, and began singing around the San Francisco Bay area. After law school, she moved to Stockton, and began contributing to the Stockton and Sacramento music scenes while holding down her day job as a legal aid lawyer. In 2003 she released the self-produced CD, 'Sub Urban Poet: the Lawyer Songs,' a minimalist, solo, political, acoustic-electric-spoken word follow-up to the acoustic lovelorn pop of her 2001 debut, 'Are You the One?' In 2004, Haffner relocated to Southern California where she dropped out of law practice and singing and took up law school teaching. She has now resumed the practice of law and supervises the housing/consumer unit of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County.

Haffner informs us: "My City (the mayor's song) was written around 2 a.m. while working out the theory of the case in a motion for preliminary injunction for Price v. City of Stockton, a redevelopment suit that resulted in a published opinion at 390 F.2d 1105 (9th Cir. 2004). Hallelujah reflects on the circumstances of the same case--months after winning a preliminary injunction that ordered Stockton to stop using code enforcement as an excuse to shutter residential hotels & displace their residents unless it also gave substantial relocation assistance. Of course, the injunction did not stop all the closures (though it did halt some)--or other run-the-bums-out measures." [Personal communication, Stephanie Haffner, October 7, 2006]

Bob Noone

"2nd Help of Chicken Soup for the Lawyers's Soul" | LawSongs, Inc | 1999 |

Bob Noone

Tuesday, October 31: Class Presentations: Edgar Lee Masters

Peruse the Edgar Lee Masters webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

Audio recordings of SpoonRiver Anthology may be presented in conjunction with the presentation.

Archibald MacLeish

Peruse the Archibald McLeish webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

Tuesday, Nov. 7. Election Day. No Class

Wednesday, Nov. 8. Class will meet with our guest, Michael Blumenthal

Peruse the Michael Blumenthal webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

Blumenthal's presentation at the law school is based on an essay to be published in the Legal Studies Forum, titled "The Road Not Taken--Twice." [on-line text]

Tuesday, November 13: Class Presentations :: Wallace Stevens & John William Corrington

Wallace Stevens:

Peruse the Wallace Stevens webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

John William Corrington:

Peruse the John William Corrington webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry

A selection of poetry (by Professor Elkins) from the corpus of John William Corrington published poetry which was published in the Legal Studies Forum, vol. 27, p. 511 (2003) [on-line text]

James R. Elkins, A Great Gift: Reading John William Corrington, 26 Legal Stud. F. 425 (2002)

Tuesday, November 21. Thanksgiving Break. No Class

Tuesday, November 27. Class Presentation: Charles Reznikoff

Peruse the John William Corrington webpage on Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry, and in particular, the poetry which can be found via the webpage.

David Skeel, Point-Blank Verse, an essay in Legal Affairs [on-line text]

Benjamin Watson, Reznikoff's Testimony, 29 Legal Stud. F. 67 (2005)

Home