Poetry and national attitudes

Posted by Joe on: 05.16.2008 /

Who is your favourite poet? A surprising number of people might say the Scottish poet William Topaz McGonagall, some of whose original works are to go up at auction today.

I say surprising because Wm McGonagall is widely believed to be the worst poet in the English language. He frequently had listeners throw vegetables at him during performances and eventually died penniless.

His classic text is a poem called the Tay Bridge Disaster, after one of Britain’s worst rail disasters in 1879. It starts like this:

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”

When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.

And it basically goes on and on and on in this vein (and arguably gets worse). On the other hand, it has indeed been remember’d for a very long time. You might want to watch this to get the full effect, it makes me laugh every time.

So why is it that some nationalities like to WIN at all costs, whereas others like to be, well, a bit crap?