The Tay Bridge Disaster

"The Tay Bridge Disaster" is an internationally-known poem by the Scottish poet William McGonagall, who has been widely acclaimed as the worst poet in British history.cite|author=William McGonagall
title=World's Worst Poet: Selections from "Poetic Gems"
publisher=Templegate Publishers
date=1992] The poem recounts the events of the evening of December 28 1879, when, during a severe gale, the Tay Rail Bridge near Dundee collapsed as a train was passing over it with the loss of all on board (now thought to be 75 people, not 90 as stated in the poem). The foundations of the bridge were not removed and are alongside the existing newer bridge.

The poem is by far the most famous ever written by McGonagall, and is still widely quoted. It begins:

:"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 shall be remembered for a very long time."

And it ends:

:"Oh! Ill-fated bridge of the silv'ry Tay:I now must 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 build:The less chance we have of being killed"

William McGonagall wrote two other poems in praise of the Tay Bridge. The first one begins as follows:

The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay:

:"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay!:With your numerous arches and pillars in so grand array,:And your central girders, which seem to the eye:To be almost towering to the sky"

After the original bridge collapsed, a new one was built, providing the opportunity for another poem, which begins:

An Address to the New Tay Bridge

:"BEAUTIFUL new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,:With your strong brick piers and buttresses in so grand array,:And your thirteen central girders, which seem to my eye:Strong enough all windy storms to defy."

ee also

*List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll

References

External links

* [http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgdisaster.htm Tay Bridge Disaster poem in full]