William McGonagall

William McGonagall

William Topaz McGonagall (* 1825 in Edinburgh ; † September 29, 1902 there ) was a Scottish eccentric and poet . In the English-speaking world, he is considered the worst poet of all time.

Life

Although William McGonagall was born and died in Greyfriars Parish, Edinburgh , he was associated with the city of Dundee throughout his life. His parents were Irish.

McGonagall moved to Dundee early on to work as a hand weaver in his father's business. In 1846 he married Jean King who gave birth to five sons and two daughters. Although the industrial revolution drove handweavers out of business, McGonagall's business seemed to be thriving as intricate pieces of weaving still needed skilled handicraftsmen.

Before McGonagall started writing poetry, he was engaged as a stage actor. He got to play the title role of Macbeth at Mr Giles' Theater - if he paid for it. The performances were well attended by his friends and work colleagues, who were not expecting a serious play, but rather an amusing disaster. In fact, McGonagall believed that the colleague who played Macduff would steal his show - and so McGonagall refused to die on stage.

In the 1870s, McGonagall and his family were struggling to survive. Finding a job as a weaver became increasingly difficult, and his eldest daughter discredited the family for having a child out of wedlock. But one day McGonagall was to change drastically. He wrote:

"The most amazing event of my life was the time when I discovered the poet in me - which happened in 1877."

McGonagall described the inspiration to become a poet as follows: “There seemed to be a strange kind of feeling creeping over me, and it lingered for about five minutes. A flame, as Lord Byron said, seemed to ignite his entire body, along with a deep urge to write poetry. ”He wrote his first poem, An Address to the Reverend George Gilfillan, which is the hallmark of his later work would. Pastor Gilfillan, himself a poorly educated pastor of mediocre reputation, commented with admiration, "Shakespeare never wrote anything like that."

McGonagall soon realized that he needed a patron to succeed as a poet. He wrote to Queen Victoria and received a rejection from an official of the royal family, in which the latter thanked him for his interest. The hopeful poet, however, saw this as an appreciation. On a trip to Dunfermline in 1879, McGonagall was ridiculed by the Chief Templar - his poems were very bad. McGonagall replied that the poems were "so bad that Her Majesty thanked him for them [...]".

The letter gave McGonagall confidence in his abilities as a poet, and he believed he could improve his reputation by reading poetry to the Queen. In July 1878 he hiked 97 kilometers from Dundee to Balmoral , where Queen Victoria stayed - over mountainous terrain, in violent thunderstorms, and got wet to the bone in the process. When he got to the royal residence, he introduced himself as the "Queen's Poet". The guards, however, replied, “You are not the queen's poet! Tennyson is the poet! “McGonagall showed the letter to the queen but had to return home anyway. Undaunted, he returned home to report details of his trip to the newspapers, which earned him a little extra credit.

Throughout his life, William McGonagall appeared in pubs and bars delivering edifying poems and speeches against excessive drinking. These contributed to the amusement of the audience in such a way that it was written about him that he was “so masterfully bad that he unconsciously stumbled backwards into genius”. He felt the anger of the innkeepers who threw beans at him on one occasion because he wanted to teach the guests about the wickedness of the "strong drink".

In 1883 he contributed with the poem The Inauguration of University College Dundee to the opening ceremony of the same university . The poem began with the words:

Good people of Dundee, your voices raise,

And to Miss Baxter give great praise;

Rejoice and sing and dance with glee,

Because she has founded a college in Bonnie Dundee

McGonagall always struggled with financial problems and made money selling his poems on the streets, or performing recitals in festival halls, theaters, and at public events. He was also supported by donations from his friends. In 1880 and 1887 he traveled to London and New York, respectively, but returned to Dundee both times without success.

He then caused a stir by performing his poems in a local circus. He performed his works while the audience pelted him with eggs, flour, herrings, potatoes, and stale bread - performances that earned him fifteen shillings a night each . He felt happy with this commitment, but the events became so tumultuous over time that the city councils of Dundee banned them. McGonagall fought back with the poem Lines in Protest to the Dundee Magistrates:

Fellow citizens of Bonnie Dundee

Are ye aware how the magistrates have treated me?

Nay, do not stare or make a foot

When I tell ye they have boycotted me from appearing in Royal Circus,

Which in my opinion is a great shame,

And a dishonor to the city's name [...]

The poet probably never realized what the public actually thought of his poems, even if the audience pelted him with eggs and vegetables during the performances. The biographies think it is possible that he took the audience's reactions into account and designed the performances according to their expectations.

In 1890, McGonagall suffered from severe financial difficulties. His friends financed the publication of his works under the title Poetic Gems ("poetic jewels"). Sales of this title allowed him to stay afloat for a period of time. Some time later he was offended by the treatment of himself in the streets of Dundee and threatened to leave the city in a furious poem. One newspaper joked that he would be staying in town for another year once he realized "that Dundee rhymes with 1893" ("that 'Dundee' rhymes with 'eighteen-ninety-three'").

In 1892 he dedicated a long poem to the wreck of the German express steamer Spree , which was unable to maneuver in the North Atlantic for two days after its drive shaft broke .

After a stint as a prose writer and copywriter, he and his wife had to leave Dundee and moved to Perth in 1894 . Soon after arriving in Perth, he received a letter supposedly from the court of the Burmese King Thibaw Min . In this message he was informed that he had been knighted "Topaz McGonagall, Grand Knight of the Holy Order of the White Elephant Burmah". Although the joke was obvious, McGonagall henceforth claimed the title of Sir William Topaz McGonagall, Knight of the White Elephant, Burmah .

McGonagall's grave in Edinburgh

5 South College St.

In 1895 he and his wife moved to Edinburgh. He was able to enjoy some success again and there became a cult figure and a sought-after entertainer. But it was not long before 1900, when he became impoverished again, was too frail to sell his poems in the streets, and was again dependent on gifts from his friends.

McGonagall died in 1902 and was buried in an anonymous grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. Since 1999, however, a grave slab adorns his last resting place with the inscription:

William McGonagall

Poet and Tragedian

Died 2nd September 1902

Buried near this spot

"I am your Gracious Majesty

ever faithful to Thee,

William McGonagall, The Poor Poet

That lives in Dundee. "

Translation:

William McGonagall

Poet and "Tragedian" (note: ambiguous, can mean both "tragic poet" and "actor of tragic roles" in German)

Died September 2, 1902

Buried near this point

“I am your gracious majesty

always faithful,

William McGonagall,

The poor poet

who lives in Dundee. "

On the house at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, a plaque bears his portrait and a similar inscription that also names him "Poet and Tragedian".

plant

The poet in national costume

McGonagall's most important poem is The Tay Bridge Disaster about the train wreck when the Firth-of-Tay Bridge collapsed on December 28, 1879, which is still considered the greatest train wreck in British history. (The collapse of the Tay Bridge was also immortalized by Theodor Fontane under the name The Bridge on the Tay .) In 1999 the Dundee City Council had these stanzas carved in stone and erected as a memorial near the McGonagall Society . It begins with the following verses:

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 remembered for a very long time.

Trivia

Minerva McGonagall , a character in the Harry Potter novels and their film adaptations, was named after William McGonagall.

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld, there are the Little Free Men with their battle bards called Gonnagle, who use bad poetry in battle to scare away enemies.

The band Gloryhammer dedicated the 2013 album Tales from the Kingdom of Fife to him.

The Life of William McGonagall was filmed as a grotesque comedy in the UK in 1974: The Great McGonagall , directed by Joseph McGrath , with Spike Milligan (in the title role) and Peter Sellers (as Queen Victoria).

literature

• Norman Watson: Poet McGonagall: A Biography. Birlinn, Edinburgh 2010, ISBN 978-1-84158-884-1 .

Web links

Commons : William Topaz McGonagall  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Collected Works (English)

Footnotes

1. ^ McGonagall Online . ("William Topaz McGonagall, poet and tragedian of Dundee, has been widely hailed as the writer of the worst poetry in the English language.")
2. ↑ James Campbell: Bard of the Silv'ry Tay . In: The Guardian . January 21, 2006 ("There are a few standard remarks that pursue the name of William McGonagall. He is 'the world's worst poet', a writer so bad he is good.")
3. ↑ June Skinner Sawyers: Maverick Guide to Scotland. Pelican, Gretna 1999, p. 233 ("William Topaz McGonagall (1830–1902) is universally acknowledged as the writer of the world's worst verse.")
4. ↑ William McDonagall: The foundering of the Steamer "Spree". 1892
5. ^ John Goodridge: Some Rhetorical Strategies in Later Nineteenth-Century Laboring-Class Poetry . In: Criticism . tape 47 , no. 4 , 2005, ISSN  1536-0342 , p. 531-547 , doi : 10.1353 / crt.2007.0009 .