From the magazine Sam Leith

The anti-genius of William McGonagall, history’s worst poet

Sam Leith Sam Leith
 Alamy
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 08 March 2025
issue 08 March 2025

‘Not marble nor the gilded monuments of princes,’ wrote Shakespeare, ‘shall outlive this powerful rhyme.’ To be a great poet, as the Stratford man knew, is to be immortal. But there’s another way to achieve immortality through verse – and that is the route taken by William McGonagall, the ‘worst poet in history’, who was born 200 years ago this month.

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