Roget’s Prayer

(if you are viewing this via email, the website has a recording of this poem and commentary; click the title above)

Commentary

On two or three recent occasions, I have needed the word “extrapolate,” but couldn’t think of it. So, I had to resort to “compensate.” This morning, the word I was seeking popped into my mind, and I was so happy I wrote a poem.

It is said that Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) made lists of related words partly to combat his persistent depression. Which of us hasn’t benefited from the resulting Roget’s Thesaurus? As you can probably guess, he was a brilliant and accomplished man. He also lived a long life. He was deaf by the time he died at age 90. I didn’t know that yet when I attributed my own prayer to him in the title of this poem.

Read more about Roget: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mark_Roget

#roget #thesaurus #hayakawa #usetherightword #synonyms #extrapolate #compensate

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