William McGonagall The Worlds Worst Poet?

Some Scots are lobbying to recognise William Topaz McGonagall as a Scottish Poetic Icon. Many snooty Scots would like to have none of it.

The late 19th century poet's work is so bad he carried an umbrella with him at all times as protection from the barrage of rotten tomatoes he faced wherever he recited.

His most famous work, a poem initially titled The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay, drew derision from crowds when it required a hasty rewrite after the structure collapsed in 1879.

It became The Tay Bridge Disaster with the immortal opening stanza: "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."

With gems like this, he will take some beating as the Worlds Worst Poet.

The Tay Bridge Disaster

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."

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More than 100 years after the poet's death, detractors still won't give him a break: The Scottish literary establishment has blocked plans for a memorial to him at the Writers Museum in Edinburgh alongside those honouring Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Walter Scott.

Despite his plodding verse and excruciating rhymes, McGonagall has remained in print since his death in 1902. He was branded the "world's worst" by his own publisher who put the epithet on a volume of his works.

McGonagall himself was confident of his genius, believing his poetry to be second only to that of Shakespeare.

Today fans keep the flame alive with regular recitals and their own version of a Burns Supper - the annual gatherings marking Burns' birthday that include prodigious consumption of Scotch whiskey. At McGonagall night, the meal is eaten back to front with the dessert first and ending with the starter.

On such evenings, devotees are likely to declaim vintage McGonagall verses such as: "Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light/Thou seemest most charming to my sight/As I gaze upon thee in the sky so high/A tear of joy does moisten mine eye."

Neither McGonagall's home town of Edinburgh, nor his adopted city of Dundee, on the east coast of Scotland, has a statue to him - though both have plaques.

I grew up just down the road from the Tay Bridge, travelling over its replacement on many ocassions. The Tay Bridge Disaster is part of the local history. I think a statue to McGonagall overlooking the site of his most famous poem would be fitting.