from Wikipedia:
"William Topaz McGonagall was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work.
Throughout his life McGonagall campaigned against excessive drinking, appearing in pubs and bars to give edifying poems and speeches, which proved popular.[ He met with the ire of the publicans, on one occasion being pelted with peas for reciting a poem about the evils of "strong drink".
He found lucrative work performing his poetry at a local circus. He read his poems while the crowd was permitted to pelt him with eggs, flour, herrings, potatoes and stale bread. For this, he received fifteen shillings a night. McGonagall seemed happy with this arrangement, but the events became so raucous that the city magistrates were forced to put a ban on them"
hahahha what a character
here is a link to one of his poems see what you think...
A Tale of the Sea was quite a bloody tale indeed! What interests me further is how similar this man is to the balladry of old, but yet he blends his storytelling with a mixed bag of romantic and realist thought. Quite an intriguing find @Marc Brimble