Yet again !
June 8, 2005 4:27 PM Subscribe
All should see him before the Cholera arrives ! Beautiful Moon, with thy silvery light,
Thou seemest most charming to my sight;
As I gaze upon thee in the sky so high,
A tear of joy does moisten mine eye. William Topaz McGonagall , the worlds greatest poet (again).
The McGonagall is genuinely brilliant. I have been able to make three successive girlfriends weep with laughter at my declamations of his work.
John Laurie, the actor best known as Fraser in Dad's Army, made some recordings of McGonagall's verse. I have no idea where you'd find them now but if you do I particularly recommend "On the Attempted Assassination of the Queen". In his voice you can almost hear the McGonagall's own, and sense the mad gleam of utter seriousness in his eye.
On the subject of obscurities, the Folio Society edition of McGonagall's verse is well out of print but track it down, if only for Spike Milligan's specially commissioned introduction to the book, which begins:
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, twas a wonderful thing for me
To be commissioned by the Folio Society
To write a foreword for William McGonagall
Which should not take very long at all
There is much about him I'd like to say
First, that he is dead and remained that way
He was the world's finest poet and wit
It's just that he had a hard time proving it."
posted by Hogshead at 8:47 PM on June 8, 2005
John Laurie, the actor best known as Fraser in Dad's Army, made some recordings of McGonagall's verse. I have no idea where you'd find them now but if you do I particularly recommend "On the Attempted Assassination of the Queen". In his voice you can almost hear the McGonagall's own, and sense the mad gleam of utter seriousness in his eye.
On the subject of obscurities, the Folio Society edition of McGonagall's verse is well out of print but track it down, if only for Spike Milligan's specially commissioned introduction to the book, which begins:
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, twas a wonderful thing for me
To be commissioned by the Folio Society
To write a foreword for William McGonagall
Which should not take very long at all
There is much about him I'd like to say
First, that he is dead and remained that way
He was the world's finest poet and wit
It's just that he had a hard time proving it."
posted by Hogshead at 8:47 PM on June 8, 2005
He waxes poetic (doh) about the Tay Bridge, bemoans its destruction, and welcomes its successor.
And don't forget his paean to Bannockburn:
"But few of them escap'd death from the spik'd pits,
For the Scots with their swords hack'd them to bits;"
"And he uttered a fearful cry
To his gay archers near by,
Ho! archers! draw your arrows to the head,
And make sure to kill them dead;"
Mcable: John Lillison (England's greatest one-armed poet and first person killed in a car crash) is the author of Pointy Birds as well as In Dillman's Grove ("Until your face brought thoughts of kissage")
posted by forrest at 9:10 PM on June 8, 2005
And don't forget his paean to Bannockburn:
"But few of them escap'd death from the spik'd pits,
For the Scots with their swords hack'd them to bits;"
"And he uttered a fearful cry
To his gay archers near by,
Ho! archers! draw your arrows to the head,
And make sure to kill them dead;"
Mcable: John Lillison (England's greatest one-armed poet and first person killed in a car crash) is the author of Pointy Birds as well as In Dillman's Grove ("Until your face brought thoughts of kissage")
posted by forrest at 9:10 PM on June 8, 2005
The New Yorkers boast about their Brooklyn Bridge,
But in comparison to thee it seems like a midge,
posted by sgt.serenity at 1:44 AM on June 9, 2005 [1 favorite]
But in comparison to thee it seems like a midge,
posted by sgt.serenity at 1:44 AM on June 9, 2005 [1 favorite]
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posted by sklero at 4:57 PM on June 8, 2005