William McGonagall - A Warning From History

[WhiteCrow]

I originally plonked this on my blog, but I thought it might be interesting to copy in here, to see what people's reactions are.

William McGonagall - A Warning From History.




Who was he? He is often regarded as the worst poet in British history. He was a weaver who at the age of 47 started writing poetry under the belief he was creating a new art form.

Part of the problem is his limited vocabulary and poor understanding of what makes a poem work meant his work is awkward, and you almost fight the words to get any rhythm in them.

He also tried to write of great battles and tragedies, but his work often is unintentionally funny. His most famous work is on the 1879 disaster on the Bridge of Tay

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.

His work was so badly recieved he would often have food thrown at him during readings.

But he was passionate in his work and that one day he would break through.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_mcgonagal

In 1892, following the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, he walked from Dundee to Balmoral, a distance of about 60 miles over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm, "wet to the skin", to ask Queen Victoria if he might be considered for the post of Poet Laureate. Unfortunately, he was informed the Queen was not in residence, and returned home.

He died pennyless in 1902.

Ironically much of his work is still in print to this day, often read as amusement.

So why am I mentioning him? Am I adding my voice to those who ridicule him through the ages?

Well yes and no.

His poetry is often unintentionally funny true. But it's not really that bad.

Most poets are highly educated people, recording the goings on of their world according to their class. I think McGonagall has merit for the fact he had a humble background and was trying to record the world around him and it's goings on just as any poet would do. His poems then have merit simply for giving us a kind of view to a different world than is normally recorded and preserved for this history books.

He had a poets soul, he was passionate about it, sticking with it, he just wasn't very good at it.

Enthusiasm greater than his talent. There's something likeable about that, a kind of poetic Ed Wood.

But now comes the warning.

Ever been to a video store, and heard the guy behind the counter talking to his friend about this movie script he's working on? Have you got a friend on-line who once wrote a book which got rejected so many times they ended up self-publishing, but only sold 5 copies? The friend who has a band who's waiting for their "breakthrough".

Alas the world today is full of William McGonagalls. Thats perhaps a tragedy in itself.

To have enthusiasm and passion, it's something we all need to have. And there's nothing wrong with a little hope that we have tallent, and it can support us.

But there is alas sometimes a lack or pragmatism or realism.

People know they can sing, and they think they can be the next Robbie Williams, with the whole lifestyle. They write a book and want to be the next J. K. Rowling.

These people often DO have tallent, but often not enough to make it truely big, not as big as they'd like. They can sing, and they can make it big on the local club scene, which is more than many and nothing to be ashamed of. They can write, and their blog is a popular port of call, but not a big money-spinner.

I'm of course writing a book myself. And I revel in the bloody awfulness of it. I need to stick to my technical documents!

[WhiteCrow]

Basically for every Quinten Tarrentino, there's about a million William McGonagalls goes my theory!

[Andrew Curnow]

Very good, very good indeed!

[Captain Tancredi]

I know Billy Connolly's something of a McGonagall enthusiast- once you get over the fact that he just didn't understand things like scansion and his unerring talent for bathos (in other words rising to a crescendo and then falling away without ever actually reaching it) then I think you can appreciate McGonagall's belief in his own work and unfailing persistence. It's a little bit like naive art- it's not conventionally tutored, it doesn't fit the normal definitions of how such things should be done, but it acquires a certain novelty value from the fact that somebody bothered to do it at all and it reflects one person's perception of the world.

[MacNimon]

I've never quite understood McGonagal's reputation for being the worst poet ever. Of course, you can't help but raise a smile when reading some of his work, it really isn't very good, is it?...but that doesn't mean it's awful. He believed in himself, and obviously he had a misplaced faith in his ability...at least he gave it a go and that's more than most people can say.