This is an analysis of The Tay Bridge Disaster by William Topaz McGonagall.
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say…
Structure
- Rhyme scheme: aaaXB ccddaX eeffaX aaaXB cccggg aXaaaaXB ddddeeffXB ccaaaaaaahhii
- Stanza lengths: 5,6,6,5,6,8,10,13,
- Metre: 10011100101 0111101001 1101101001 10110101 100010101011 101100111 101010101 1011101 1011101 1010001101 101101010 10111000 010010111110 110100101 1111101 110001000101 101101110101010 1101110101 101011101 110101000101 10110101 100010101011 101110101 110011101 10100111 101101011011 011111111 110101011 101110010101 01010111 10101000111 1110111000001 0110101 01101101001 10110101 100010101011 111001001001 001010111 1011111001 010011011 10100101000 1110101010 11011011 01100100010101 100101010110101 100010101011 01101101 010001011 10110111001 01011100101 1110100101 1110111 1100110001101 111010111101 1110100111 1100101110100 11101001010 1010111011 011110101
- Closest metre: iambic pentameter
- Guessed form: heroic couplets
- Stanzas: 8
- Lines: 59
Repeated words/phrases
of
Anaphora
and
Epiphora
tay
