David Lehman, a contributing editor of the Scholar, is a poet, critic, and the general editor of The Best American Poetry annual anthology and author of the book One Hundred Autobiographies. He currently writes our Talking Pictures column.
David Lehman
“Mr. Lucky” Didn’t Know Who He Was
How Cary Grant’s magical film career paralleled a lifelong identity crisis
by David Lehman | Thursday, September 28, 2023
Brilliant Carnage
Sam Peckinpah’s slow-motion bullet ballet
by David Lehman | Thursday, February 23, 2023
What Hath Gable Got?
“Rhett Butler” romances Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra’s comic masterpiece It Happened One Night
by David Lehman | Monday, November 28, 2022
The Prophecy of an Assassination
John Frankenheimer’s prescient 1962 film, The Manchurian Candidate
by David Lehman | Saturday, January 22, 2022
The Shadow of Evil
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 03, 2019
The Plot to Kill de Gaulle
Fred Zinnemann’s “clock management” in The Day of the Jackal
by David Lehman | Saturday, March 05, 2022
Christmas Movies Beyond the Expected
Six films to shake up your holiday viewing
by David Lehman | Saturday, December 18, 2021
A Reluctant Spy's Conversion
Revisiting George Seaton’s underrated 1962 film, The Counterfeit Traitor
by David Lehman | Thursday, February 04, 2021
Hamlet vs. the Nazis
A look back at Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 movie, To Be or Not To Be
by David Lehman | Monday, January 04, 2021
Coward, Take My Coward’s Hand
Looking back at Mark Robson’s Home of the Brave
by David Lehman | Thursday, August 13, 2020
An Exchange of Bullets in Belfast
Revisiting Carol Reed's 1947 masterpiece Odd Man Out
by David Lehman | Thursday, July 09, 2020
Strangers and Mirrors
Orson Welles’s The Stranger (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 26, 2020
The Allure of the Enigmatic
“Mod” London takes center stage in Michelangelo Antonioni’s mind-blowing Blow-Up
by David Lehman | Thursday, August 25, 2022
The Highest Achievement of American Film Noir
Stanwyck, MacMurray, and Robinson at their best in Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity
by David Lehman | Saturday, November 06, 2021
Great Movie Music
Fifteen examples that avoid the usual suspects
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Gangsters in Love
Revisiting Sergio Leone’s 1984 classic, Once Upon a Time in America
by David Lehman | Saturday, October 17, 2020
Blind Accidents
How John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle brilliantly epitomizes the caper film
by David Lehman | Saturday, April 17, 2021
The First Lady of Noir
Celebrated actress Ida Lupino directed The Bigamist and other taboo-busting films
by David Lehman | Saturday, May 22, 2021
Fedora, Trench Coat, Cigarette, and Gun
Humphrey Bogart’s legacy as an unconventional heartthrob
by David Lehman | Saturday, July 17, 2021
For Every Season, a Classic Holiday Movie
Three films fit for fall
by David Lehman | Saturday, August 28, 2021
To Dance an Exclamation Point
The case for An American in Paris as Gene Kelly’s best
by David Lehman | Saturday, September 25, 2021
A Matter of Pride
The enduring legacy of Gentleman’s Agreement
by David Lehman | Monday, February 10, 2020
William Holden, Model Prisoner
How the actor defined the ideal, postwar man
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 14, 2020
A Prophet of the Truly Great
Harold Bloom’s lasting influence
by David Lehman | Monday, October 21, 2019
A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Poetry Noir
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Get Hurt—or Go Back to Work
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Starting With the End
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 16, 2019
The Marriage Equation
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 09, 2019
Patricians and Peasants
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 02, 2019
How to Be a Big-League Critic
Helpful hints from a professional
by David Lehman | Monday, June 03, 2019
Updike on Couples
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Nine-Line Stanzas
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Impromptu
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 11, 2019
A Sonnet Is Ample Space
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 04, 2019
“If history can teach us anything …”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 28, 2019
“A Letter is a Joy of Earth”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Read Emily’s Mind
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Poetic Metamorphosis
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 30, 2019
The Love Poem in an Unromantic Age
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Questions and Echoes
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Why Not?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 09, 2019
A New Genre
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 02, 2019
The Lehman Trilogy
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Red Eyes and Blue Moons
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Two-Word Titles
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 12, 2019
The Trope of a Nation
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Reverse Scrabble
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 26, 2019
This Was Glory, Too
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Stanzaic Choreography
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Doubling Down
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 05, 2019
Beneath a Blood Wolf Moon
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 29, 2019
The Expanse of Spirit
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Tributes to May in January
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Four-Word Lines
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 08, 2019
A Wardrobe of Excuses
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 02, 2018
“For Years You’ve Kept Me Hanging …”
by David Lehman | Wednesday, October 10, 2018
The False Confession
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 16, 2018
“It Was I”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 23, 2018
An Epigraph in Search of a Poem
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Like People in Novels
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 06, 2018
Title Precedes Text
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Hazards, Brawls, and the Value of Bad Titles
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Time to Tee Up
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 27, 2018
A Hole in One
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 04, 2018
The Life of Words
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 11, 2018
An Ample Meal
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Let the Names Begin
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 25, 2018
“What’s in a Name?”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 18, 2018
The Best of Everything
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 11, 2018
The Best Is Here to Stay
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Of Rivers, Lovers, Battles, and Repetitions
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Checkmate in 10 Moves
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 14, 2018
How to Cheat
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 07, 2018
Two Lines a Day
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 31, 2018
A Bold Caravan Departs
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Companionable Poems
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 26, 2018
The Alphabet as Hero
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Imaginary Trips to Real Places
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 01, 2018
Pierre Loves Natasha
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 08, 2018
We Want a Hero
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 15, 2018
What You Will Miss the Most
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Homage to Anna Kamienska
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Long Story Short (But I Could Be Wrong)
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 05, 2018
Long Ago, Shortly After …
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Your Ghostly Companion
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 19, 2018
The Violet of Roses
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 03, 2018
The Interplay of Voices
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 10, 2018
What’s in a Name?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 24, 2018
We Need a New Word
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Neither Fugues nor Feathers
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 10, 2018
This Prophecy Merlin Shall Make
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 03, 2018
The Hedgehogs and the Foxes
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 27, 2018
From Beethoven to the Abyss, With Love and an Unpacked Suitcase
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Six Ways Forward
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 13, 2018
The Minister of Loneliness
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 06, 2018
Honor Role
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Postcard From the Future
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Poetry Is Mistranslation
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 13, 2018
“Come live with me and be my love”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Flowering Thyme
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 30, 2018
About a Boy
Read an excerpt from a perpetual poem-in-progress
by David Lehman | Monday, December 04, 2017
Hamlet’s Ghostly Presence
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 23, 2018
The Top Ten
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Estimated Wait Time
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Toasts and Resolutions
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Double Your Pleasure
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 19, 2017
And Be Careful, Darling
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Abecedarius in 26 Words
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 05, 2017
The Tragic Acrostic
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Antigone
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Autumn Haiku
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 14, 2017
The One Thing
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 07, 2017
What Can Save Us?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 31, 2017
More Marianne Moore
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Time, Fear, Lust, Truth, and Grant’s Tomb
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Good, Worse, Best
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 10, 2017
The Nocturnal Proof
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 03, 2017
The Impossible Dream
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Miss Understanding Prevails
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 19, 2017
From Minor Errors, Mighty Words May Flow
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Captain Lehman Salutes the Troops
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 05, 2017
How August, How Noble
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 29, 2017
The Secret Sharer
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Taking Liberties
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 15, 2017
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 08, 2017
The Renga Goes On
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 01, 2017
From Tanka to Renga
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 25, 2017
From Haiku to Tanka
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Got Game? Time for a Summer Haiku
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Games Poets Play
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 04, 2017
As You Like It
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Dirty Love
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Pastimes of Peace
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 13, 2017
The Peace Dividend
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 06, 2017
The Black Car
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 30, 2017
The Pill
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Well, They Are Gone . . .
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 09, 2017
The Inimitable
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 02, 2017
Building on Byron and Keats
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 25, 2017
From a Likeness to a Delicacy
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 18, 2017
What It Was Like
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 11, 2017
The Spirit of Collaboration
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 28, 2017
The Beautiful and Sublime
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 21, 2017
The Triumph of the Epigraph
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Word Golf
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Hot Toddy
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 16, 2014
When Two Strangers Meet
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 06, 2015
Airport Buoyancy
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Let’s Write a Sestina
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Winning Stanza Refuses to Cave
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Chemosabe
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 03, 2015
“Her Winsome Style”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Sestina: Stanza 4
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Stanza 5: “Six Options”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Mary’s Tip
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Melodious Song
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Complete with “Compline”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Two-Line Poem
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Wind and Ice
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Let’s Assemble a Cento
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 07, 2015
“Nobody Heard Him”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down …
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Similes Are Like Detours—or Shortcuts
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Like Dancing Down the Aisle
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 19, 2015
“In my end is my beginning”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 26, 2015
“Homage to Auden”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Poems and Secret Messages
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 09, 2015
“Conscience versus Consequence”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Let’s Do It Again
A new crowd-sourced sonnet, one line at a time
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Uniformity
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Midnight Champagne
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Sinatra’s Century
A brief excerpt from David Lehman’s new book about Ol' Blue Eyes
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Darkness Visible
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Caged But Free ...
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 10, 2015
The Key That Confirms the Lock
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Are the Words of the Prophets Written on Prison Walls?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 24, 2015
From Bouquet to Wreath
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Terms of Interment
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 08, 2015
Bliss is Momentary in the Mind
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Rules of Engagement
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Looking Ahead
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 29, 2015
A Plot Twist–or Two
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 05, 2016
The Unmasking
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Erase and Change
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Mood of Doom, Where Guns Are Snug
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 26, 2016
A Break with Tradition
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 02, 2016
Ruby Tuesday
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 09, 2016
Blues in the Night
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Papa Joins Mama
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Heaven, Hope, or a Ghostly Sight
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Galloping Ghosts
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Spring Forward
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 15, 2016
This Week’s Haiku to Become Next Week’s Tanka
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Let the Renga Reign
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 29, 2016
“April Is the Cruelest Month, [Because]”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 05, 2016
T. S. Eliot: Still Undefeated
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Behind the Curtain
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 19, 2016
The Pen Name Is Mightier than the Word
by David Lehman | Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Walt Whitman’s Manly Diet
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 03, 2016
A Familiar Public Place
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 10, 2016
The Judgment of Paris
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Prompting a Poem, Dreaming of a Drink
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 24, 2016
You Must Get Drunk
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 07, 2016
Reasons to Live
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Title Search
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Looking for Line One
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 28, 2016
You Choose
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 05, 2016
Control Panel
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Good-For-You Chocolate
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 19, 2016
A Snifter and a Hoodie
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Play It, Sam
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 02, 2016
Ode to Woody Allen
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 09, 2016
“Yet Once More, O Ye Laurels ... ”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Young Lycidas
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 23, 2016
The Fake Apology
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 30, 2016
After Labor Day
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 06, 2016
A Liszt Poem
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 13, 2016
In Handbags, Purses, and Wallets
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 20, 2016
A Job of Work
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 27, 2016
No, I Am Not ...
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 04, 2016
But There’s No Knot for Me
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 11, 2016
“I Stop Somewhere Waiting for You”
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Under the Dark Marquee
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Leaves of Presence
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 01, 2016
No Entry
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 08, 2016
The Chill
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 15, 2016
The Potency of Cocktails
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Addressing the Universe (or One Aspect of It)
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 06, 2016
You Weren’t Serious When You Said
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Building a Sonnet
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Greater Than the Sum of Lust and Duty
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 03, 2017
What I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 10, 2017
A Three-Way Mirror
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Simplicity
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Quick Meditations
by David Lehman | Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Painterly Poems
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 07, 2017
May I Finish What You Started?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 14, 2017
The Heretics
by David Lehman | Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Heresy and Quarrel
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 07, 2017
One Hundred Autobiographies
Preview a memoir in progress
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Twelve
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Fourteen
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Old Acrostic, New Acrostic
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Two Poems
by David Lehman | Tuesday, March 11, 2014
A Radical Pessimist’s Priceless Patter
Dashiell Hammett took the detective story out of the parlor and into the street
by David Lehman | Monday, September 07, 2015
Two Philosophers
What would Kierkegaard and Hegel do about the crises of our day?
by David Lehman | Monday, June 09, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line One
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Two
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Three
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Four
by David Lehman | Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Five
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Six
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Seven
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Lines Eight and Nine
by David Lehman | Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Ten
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 01, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Eleven
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 08, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: Line Thirteen
by David Lehman | Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Help Us Write a Sonnet: The Title
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 05, 2014
The August Haiku
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 12, 2014
This Week’s Haiku, Next Week’s Tanka
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 19, 2014
The Tanka in Toto
by David Lehman | Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Who’s Waldo?
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 02, 2014
A Whim of Irony
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Let’s Be Misunderstood
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Diss All Cumbrances
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The Way of All Whim
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 07, 2014
The Couplet
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 14, 2014
The Winning Couplet Grows (into a Sonnet Ghazal)
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 21, 2014
The Shortest Story Ever Told
by David Lehman | Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Tara’s Theme
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Finish What Dickinson Started
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Of Ciphers—In the Brain
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 18, 2014
The Last Shall Be First
by David Lehman | Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Sense of an Ending
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Rhyme Sandwich
by David Lehman | Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Brush Up Your Berlin
And beware of kiss-me-I’m-poetical junk
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Why I Love You
by David Lehman | Friday, June 03, 2011
No R
Kaminsky knows how to survive in the business: start a magazine that almost nobody can understand, and become the darling of the academy
by David Lehman | Monday, June 18, 2012
Freud’s Immortal Question
Or, one student’s adventures in higher learning
by David Lehman | Tuesday, September 04, 2012
