Christopher Adams’s miscellany entitled The Worst English Poets (1958) is a disappointing volume. Though the author may have decided to exclude the universally execrated McGonnigal for reasons of space, there can be no excuse for omitting the work of Amanda McKittrick Ros, arguably the worst poet and the worst novelist in the English language. She was never as prolific a versifier as the Scot.
Still, Adams has managed to include a number of bad poets who were new to me. One ( but by no means the worst ) is Edward Newman, a noted entomologist, whose collection, The Insect Hunters, was undated when a second edition of it appeared around 1855. Here is an extract from the title poem:
Take my hat, my little Laura,
Fix it by the loop elastic;
Let us go to Haddo Villas,
Passing by the church and churchyard,
Now so bright with shortlived flowers,
Apt mementos of the buried;
Passing hand in hand together,
Passing, old and young together,
Gravely walking, gaily tripping,