Poetic Justice

About twenty five years ago, I discovered that poetry was an excellent aid in the nightly task of getting my young daughter to sleep, so that I could finally join my wife for dinner. My tattered Norton Anthology, saved from a college survey course on poetry, proved a valuable resource, and I soon learned which poets and poems were more effective in this endeavor. Chief among them was Tennyson, and, notably, his “Crossing the Bar.” There was just something about its “sunset” and “evening star,” and its rhythm, that helped her sail off into her dreams. Over time, the thought occurred to me, as an English major-now-lawyer, that I might be able to rewrite Tennyson’s famous poem from the perspective of a recent law school graduate who is on the verge of receiving news of her or his success on the bar exam. Of course, the poem would have to be retitled, “Passing the Bar.” ~ 5 And, to make the endeavor more challenging, I would strive to preserve both Tennyson’s meter and his rhyme words. This first effort, fruits of which are herein, kept me returning to the Norton Anthology for more canon fodder, and with the same requirement of preserving the meter and the rhyme words of each original. In the pages that follow, my “lawyer rewrite” of each famous poem is set alongside the original so that discerning readers may decide if I have lived up to the meter/rhyme word challenge. To the extent any of the “rewrites” might provide insights into the legal profession, which either ring true or at least rhyme, then so much the better. You be the judge.