William McGonagall would go to great lengths to achieve a rhyme and his poems are more like brief histories of the events they depict, quite vividly in most cases. I like the poems / histories and he does touch on some truths for example in his poem about Culloden
Prince Charles Stuart, of frame and renown
You might have worn Scotland’s crown
If the Macdonalds and Glengarry at Culloden had proved true
But, being too ambitious for honour, that they didn’t do
He was from a family of Irish story tellers and so it’s no real surprise his poems were wordy, but they were informative all the same, conveying a context as well as a message.
Few poets could get the word ‘buttresses’ into a poem as in this excerpt from The Tay Bridge Disaster
That your central girders would not have given way
At least many sensible men do say
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses
At least many a sensible man confesses
Julian Worker is a writer of travel books, mystery stories, and fictional lists. His work can be seen here.
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