August 18 is known nation-wide as Bad Poetry Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the rich history of terrible poetry. Although this isn’t an official U.S. holiday, or even a widely acknowledged one, it is a great excuse to entertain yourself all day with some truly abysmal examples of poetry. Or maybe you’ll even write your own bad poem today! Why would you do so? There are many reasons to celebrate Bad Poetry Day today.
Why Celebrate Bad Poetry Day?
Bad Poetry Day was originally created with the intention of getting people together with their friends to write bad poetry and submitting it back to your old high school teachers to get them back for all the “good” poetry you were forced to study back in school. But if you’re like us, you actually enjoyed reading that poetry back in high school and college. So why else should Bad Poetry Day be commemorated?
– Write bad poetry today… Because you can!
– Write bad poetry today… To irritate your friends and family!
– Write bad poetry today… So that you learn to better appreciate good poetry!
Regardless of your reasoning, you’re sure to have some fun!
What are Some Really Bad Poems?
Although everyone has their own ideas of what makes a poem “bad,” we’d like to share some that we think are worthy of celebrating today.
A classic, perhaps, but no one can argue that it’s become majorly cliché over the years:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you.
William McGonagall is known widely as “the worst poet in British history.” Born in 1825, he wrote many poems over the course of his life, none of which were good. Here is an excerpt from what many critics consider to be the worst poem of all time, “The Tay Bridge Disaster” by William McGonagall:
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember’d for a very long time.
’Twas about seven o’clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-
“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”
When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.”
Take a stab at writing your very own bad poem! If you like what you write, consider submitting it to our poetry contest and show your work to the world!