The Tay Bridge Disaster


"The Tay Bridge Disaster" is a poem written in 1880 by the Scottish poet William McGonagall, who has been recognised as the worst poet in history. The poem recounts the events of the evening of 28 December 1879, when, during a severe gale, the Tay Rail Bridge at Dundee collapsed as a train was passing over it with the loss of all on board. The number of deaths was actually 75, not 90 as stated in the poem. The foundations of the bridge were not removed and are alongside the newer bridge.
The poem is by far the most famous ever written by McGonagall, and is still widely quoted. It begins:
And it ends:
William McGonagall wrote two other poems about the Tay bridges. The first one, written before the disaster about the first bridge, begins as follows:
The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay:
And it ends:
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