titled "The Death of Roget"?

I became acquainted with it while I was a TA in English at Wichita State. I squirreled a copy away, but have lost track of it and want to share with some friends.

So I did a little searching. Only find reference to it in a book titled Linguistics for Beginners by W. Terrence Gordon. Google books would not display the page that had the poem on it. Description and reviews I saw on Amazon seem interesting and like it might be good for some of my budding English majors in my high school classes. I found a copy on half.com for $8 with shipping. I'll give you the text of the poem when the book gets here.

My curiosity has definitely been piqued!

apparently I didn't do something right.

I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the poem. English majors and students alike were delighted with it.

Thanks for your good work!

After a couple attempts I saw reference to it on the second or third page of results and it gave the author so I was able to narrow things down from there. Book sounds like it would be a good intro for those that are potentially gifted in linguistics (not that that is all that common in high school, but there are a couple every year).

your tenacity. Your stick-to-it-ive-ness. Your stubbornness. Your diligence.

Well, you get the drift!

Thanks...

Last edited Wed Feb 4, 2015, 07:02 PM - Edit history (2)

(The person I bought the book from on half.com got the book to me ridiculously fast.)

Said Roget:
"What's the purpose? Tell me why.
What's the reason? Specify!"
The other was silent,
speechless, mum,
close-mouthed, firm-tongued,
tight-lipped and dumb,
word-bound, curt, concise and brief:
He drew a gun, a gat, a rod,
and waved it in Roget's facade,
his face, his mug,
his map, his lug,
his kisser.
"Now wait a minute!" cried Roget.
"Wait a second! Stop! Delay--!"
That's all he said, the other fired,
shot him once; Roget expired,
pegged out, conked out,
kicked the bucket,
croaked and piped. With
Roget's luck it
means he's dead, defunct, passed on,
deceased, demised, lamented, gone.
They wrapped him up in polished oak,
a coffin, casket, wooden cloak,
and on his grave these words bespoke:
"Lie in peace; to God bequest...
R.I.P. and all the rest..."

A thousand times over...

"policed oak"

in my memory it was polished oak. Could this be a typo?

If not, how would one pronounce "policed"? accent on 2nd syllable?

My apologies. I've fixed it.

Discovered it while I was reading it aloud--plan to share with a coffee buddy tomorrow morning.

When I first read it silently I glossed right over it. I used to advise writing students to read aloud--this would be a great example for that!

I just typed it up during my lunch and wanted to get it to you (was surprised to see the book in my mailbox when I checked).

One other small typo, however: That's all he said, the other fired, short him once; Roget expired... I'm sure that's supposed to "shot".

It did not in any way lessen my enjoyment, pleasure, fun, entertainment, amusement, diversion, gratification; just thought you might want to know.

Thanks again!

That will teach me to decide to just quickly type it up.

The typos are nothing - you're totally a Mensch!

I'll read it sometime later this month, but it looks like a good intro for a high school student that would be good in the area of linguistics.