Ben+Franklin

By: Ben Franklin

THE BENEFIT OF GOING TO LAW

TWO beggars traveling along, One blind, the other lame. Pick'd up an oyster on the way, To which they both laid claim: The matter rose so high, that they Resolv'd to go to law, As often richer fools have done, Who quarrel for a straw. A lawyer took it straight in hand, Who knew his business was To mind nor one nor t'other side, But make the best o' the cause, As always in the law's the case; So he his judgment gave, And lawyer-like he thus resolv'd What each of them should have; Blind plaintif, lame defendant, friendly laws impartial care, A shell for him, a shell for thee, The middle is the //lawyer's fee//.

Summary: This poem is about two beggars who are traveling together. One is blind and the other is lame. Ben Franklin explains how they were walking down the road with each other and found a oyster. They disagree on which one of them should keep the oyster and argued heavily over it. They both wanted it so badly. They went to a lawyer to settle it. The lawyer did not take sides and wanted to give it to the person he thought deserved it most. They took the matter to court and found out the decision. Each beggar got a shell and the middle went to the lawyer for the lawyer's fee. This poem shows Ben Franklin's opinion about lawyers. He talks about how lawyers take advantage of their clients such as when the lawyer in this poem gets the middle part of the oyster for his fee.

A) The poem is titled "The Benefit of Going to Law. "In this poem, Ben Franklin reveals his opinion about going to court. It is meant to show the negatives of going to court. The court ruled that the outside shell of the oyster should go to both of the beggars, and the middle of the oyster should go to the lawyer for his **** fee. In this ** excerpt **, Ben Franklin uses a metaphor using the oyster to describe when people go to court, sometimes in life, things aren't even worth the trouble. You can sometimes resolve issues **** with the other person before you even go to the law. In present times, lawyers make a high settlement fee for being a lawyer in the case. If there is a traffic accident, sometimes it's not even worth taking it to court when ** you're ** going to pay a lawyer more than the fee to fix the car. T **he issues are not even worth settling in court because you most likely lose more than you will gain. This shows Ben's opinion on taking cases to courts.
 * Excerpt:

B) This poem shows Ben Franklin's opinion about lawyers. He talks about how lawyers take advantage of their clients such as when the lawyer in this poem gets the middle part of the oyster for his fee which is the best part of it. Today in some states, lawyers may charge up to 35% for the Contingency fee after the trial occurs.

C) Ben Franklin wrote most of his poetry geared toward the common people who are the lower and middle classes. He uses the oyster as the main idea of the case. In reality, people would never go to court over an oyster but it is supposed to show that some cases people actually take to court are not even worth pursuing in court. He didn't direct the poem towards the rich, but rather towards the poor by using something of low value such as the oyster.


 * Reflection:** I really liked this poem by Ben Franklin. It showed his opinions about life. It talked about how he feels about court and his dislike for lawyers. I agree with Ben Franklin's opinions about court and lawyers because some of the issues people pursue in court can be resolved without using the law. It can be a waste of time and money. I like how he bases his poems on the common people rather than the rich people. Ben Franklin did a lot of positive things in his life such as become one of the founding fathers of our country and help write the United States Constitution. He was also a great poet.