When it was first constructed, the Forth Bridge was regarded as the eighth wonder of the world. Familiarity breeds contempt, and it is easy to forget that this is a structure every bit as spectacular and remarkable as the Eiffel Tower, of which it can seem oddly reminiscent. The bridge can be viewed to really good effect from both North Queensferry and Queensferry: and the views from one of the many trains crossing it are equally worthwhile, especially of North Queensferry and Queensferry and of the Forth Road Bridge only a short distance to the west.
There is a German poem about the bridge and the accident in December 1879. It is a ballad, several pages long, and I had to learn it and recite from memory in school.
Was the poem about the Tay Bridge disaster ?
Yes. “Die Brück’ am Tay” by Theodor Fontane. I just looked it up, it’s just about 70 lines - for me as a kid having to learn it, it really seemed going on forever. And I think I could get most of it together even today, over 40 years later…
And this is not a translation of William McGonagall’s work, it is a completely independent poem.
