THE GREAT McGONAGALL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 897, 12 October 1956, Page 26

THE GREAT McGONAGALL

"HE recent republication of Poetic Gems, by William McGonagall, "poet and tragedian," has led to the delighted rediscovery by gany of this prince of bad verse, this master of bathos, author of the immorta} lines: 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. McGonagall, a 19th century handloom weaver, who recited his own amazing doggerel before bedazzled audiences, was the subject of an entertaining talk by Ray Copland from 1YC last week. The generous helpings of McGonagall’s works bore out Mr. Copland’s claim that the rhymester was unfailing in striking the bathetic note. However, he did not merely guy the itinerant bard, but was able to create a certain sympathy for him by suggesting that McGonagall’s single-minded pursuit of his offbeat muse indicated a certain poetic integrity. For some time I have held McGonagall, with Amanda McKittrick Ros, as monarchs in the realm of nonsense absolute, and thus I enjoyed Mr. Copland’s talk hugely. But he was, unhappily, a less than adequate reader, his colourless voice throwing away most of

his nice points and making McGonagall’s verse sound drab rather than amusing. Here was surely a case in which a professional reader would have done more justice to the fine script than the author himself was able to.