The Tay Bridge Disaster by William McGonagall

For a little fun this week, here's a poem by William Topaz McGonagall, whom many consider to have been the worst poet ever. A folio of McGonagall's poems recently sold for $13,000 at auction because the poems are so laughably bad.

McGonagall wrote "The Tay Bridge Disaster" to memorialize a tragic bridge collapse near his hometown of Dundee, Scotland. Here are some excerpts (the rest is here). As you'll see, the poem itself is a disaster.


The Tay Bridge Disaster

So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay.

I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.



William Topaz McGonagall was born in 1830 in Edinburgh, Scotland. An actor, weaver and most notably a poet, McGonagall was a tragic figure. He seemed convinced of his poetic greatness, but was universally mocked. He died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave.