[beckett]

By the way, here's the Richard Corey lyrics, with only the second to last word changed:

• "Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
• We people on the pavement looked at him:
• He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
• Clean favoured, and imperially slim.

• And he was always quietly arrayed,
• And he was always human when he talked;
• But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
• 'Good morning,' and he glittered when he walked.

• And he was rich--yes, richer than a king--
• And admirably schooled in every grace:
• In fine, we thought that he was everything
• To make us wish that we were in his place.

• So on we worked, and waited for the light,
• And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
• And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
• Went home and put a bullet through [our] head."

I rest my case.

[Tenniel2]

Been a while since the last explication de texte. This doesn't fit the strict definition, but we're in the pedantic vein today:

"fluttered pulses" -- Hoo yeah. I'm talking to you, Chrissy Matthews. And that NYT bimbo and and and ...

"glittered when [s]he walked" -- Mrs. Cory and her cut-glass-and-paste Mardi Gras homage to Winnie Mandela's lovely necklaces.

"richer than a king" -- On our dime and then some.

"went without the meat" -- Middle-class America is getting there. President Wagyu, not so much.

"imperially slim" -- Not for long at this rate.

"clean-favoured" -- Oh, all right. He's not exactly ugly. Just creepy-looking.

"human when he talked" -- Well, umm, I suppose, err, stammering aaaaannnd, uh, stuttering, ahh, qualify as "human."

However:

"quietly arrayed"? Granted, he has a good tailor. But that Air Force One jacket? And those bathing trunks? And those columns...?

"admirably schooled in every grace"? People's Exhibit A: 25 Classic American Movies on DVD.

"gentleman"? "I won!"