The Last Words

Sara V. Buckwitz

The Last Words, Christopher Orlet, The Vocabula Review
'With few exceptions, the last words of history's great players have been about as interesting and uplifting as a phone book,' Christopher Orlet writes in his survey of swan songs. From funny quips to painful petitions, Orlet publishes in his article for Vocabula--a literary review dedicated to the preservation of the language--that the great writers and thinkers of history often have more on their mind at death than how their last words will be perceived posthumously. '... After a lifetime of setting down le mot juste, Walt Whitman's last barbaric yawp was 'Hold me up; I want to shit.'' And, Oscar Wilde's last words were nothing more than an offhanded comment about a novel he'd just recently read. It makes you wonder what your own last words may be.
--Sara V. Buckwitz
Go there>>