Advantages: A true insight of Victorian Values Disadvantages: Hard to take seriously
William McGonagall is one of the 19th century's true life tragic romantic heroes - especially so because he was blissfully unaware of the fact!
His reputation has without doubt been tarnished by the literary prejudices of the age, where snobbery was rife, and discrimination against the Irish community within Scotland was commonplace.
I won't seek to provide a 'beginner's guide' in this opinion, other people have provided this far more eloquently ... ...why I feel he is worthy of serious study in spite of his limitations.
Although born and died in Edinburgh, he was best known within his adopted city of Dundee. He was a hand-loom weaver by trade, and was largely self taught. In his middle age, when doubtless his employment prospects became limited by increasing mechanisation and de-skilling, he turned to poetry to keep himself and his family from the workhouse.
In a time before the National Health ...
dobieg 23.04.2003
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Advantages: Unintentionally hilarious poetry Disadvantages: Eye-wateringly bad scansion and appalling themes - great in small doses, but not for prolonged reading
McGonagall's poetry is hilariously funny. It completely ignores all the basic rules of writing poetry, and combines this with Victorian melodrama. Widely hailed as the worst poet ever, his works are still in print and easy to find.
Here is an excerpt from "Saving a Train":
But the breaking of the car stops the train,
And poor Carl's struggle is not in vain;
But, poor soul, he was found stark dead,
Crushed and mangled from foot to head!
And ... ...the cold wet ground they did him raise,
And tears for brave Carl fell silently around,
Because he had saved two hundred passengers from being drowned.
This shows some typical McGonagalesque traits: the heroic rescue with gory details to add drama, the simple, cliched vocabulary and the triumphantly bad scansion of the final line. Truly inspired.
McGonagall was actually a hand-loom weaver by trade, who suddenly decided that he would become a poet. ...
drewish 29.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of William McGonagall
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