<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Crhahn%5CLocal%20Settings%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:SimSun;
panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;
mso-font-alt:???¡ì??;
mso-font-charset:134;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@SimSun";
panose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;
mso-font-charset:134;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 135135232 16 0 262145 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
span.hccdpe
{mso-style-name:hccdpe;}
span.ep8xu
{mso-style-name:ep8xu;}
span.ldacoc
{mso-style-name:ldacoc;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 08 January 2009 - Volume 4<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
Please set the encoding mode to Unicode (UTF-8).<br>
If viewing this in a web browser, please click on<br>
the html toggle at the bottom of the archived page <br>
and switch your browser's character encoding to Unicode.</span><br>
===========================================</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">Literature</span><br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe">Dear Lowlanders,</span><br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe">Our Tom Mc Rae's gallery display keeps growing and further
works will be added to it. So please keep checking it periodically.</span><br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe"><a href="http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae.php">http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae.php</a></span><br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe">As for his children's stories about <i>Cuddles the Crocodile</i>
(<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_cuddles.php">http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_cuddles.php</a>), you can now read them either
in HTML format or download and print the book in PDF format. This is a work in
progress. And bear in mind that it is also very much a collection of stories for
children at heart.</span><br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe">Furthermore, you can now read the so far finished chapters
in German as well (<i>Knuddel das Krokodil</i>,
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_knuddel.php">http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_knuddel.php</a>), again either in HTML format
or in PDF format. </span>With Tom's permission, persons and settings have been
changed to suit readers in Northern Germany.<br>
<br>
Tom's series of fairy tales set in Edinburgh
and told in the local Scots (<i>Auld Sonnets an' Spells New-farrant Telt</i>,
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_tales.php">http://lowlands-l.net/gallery/mcrae_tales.php</a>) is a work in progress as well.
So please keep watching the development. <br>
<br>
Enjoy!<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron<br>
<br>
----------<br>
<br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Tom Carty</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:cartyweb@hotmail.com">cartyweb@hotmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Poetry"</span><br>
<br>
I really enjoyed the excellent articleon the poetic anti-hero William Topaz Mc
Gonagall (<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/history/mcrae_mcgonagall.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/history/mcrae_mcgonagall.php</a>),
about whom I wrote the following verse some years ago...:<br>
<br>
Tomás Ó Cáthaigh<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Great Mc Gonnagle!</span></strong> <br>
<br>
<em><span style="font-family: Arial;">William "Topaz" Mc Gonnagle was poet from Dundee, who discovered he could make a rhyme at the grand
old age of 52 or so. </span></em><br>
<br>
He considered himself second to Shakespeare in Britian, and it will be of no
surprise that he was of Irish stock to have a neck to make a claim such as that
considering the quality of the verse he wrote. <br>
<br>
Today he is lauded as probably the worst poet in history, and some say he was a
fool, more say he was a satirist. His style is like the peasant songs, except
not set to music, and presented as pure poetry. <br>
<br>
His style of delivery left a lot to be desired, and he was mocked frequently
when doing readings in his native city and beyond. <br>
<br>
Whether satirist, fool or genuine and misguided, this poetic <br>
anti-hero can be found in all writers, and this poem is written <br>
in his style to recount his tale!<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of awful verse he was the master, </span></strong><b><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Writing of the Tay Bridge disaster, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Stating Shakespeare the best wordsmith
be, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">In Britain to date, and second he, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">No disrespect to Burns the Bard </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">No desire for a great name to be
tarred, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">He was second best Scottish son, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">North of the border, Mc Gonagall was
number one! </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">On receiving inspiration divine </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Pen he seized to write a line </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Continued to write, such verse he
penned: </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Was to cause mirth until his end! </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">His first verse was to the Rev.
Gilfillan, an address </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Which was judged by same to be a poetic
mess </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Wryly the poets efforts the minister
did dismiss </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Stating "Shakespeare wrote nothing like
this!" </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">His verse on theatre and street he
read, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">With laughter and derision he was met
instead, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of the respect he expected, while
reading pompous </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Clad in Kilt he caused quite a rumpus! </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">He tried once to America to go </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">But on its shores no-one did know </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Found himself cut loose, culturally
cast away </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">His homeward fare a kind stranger did
pay </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Once fifty miles or more he walked </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To read verse to the queen: but when he
talked </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To the guardsmen at the gate </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">He was turned away in indignant state </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To be poet laureate he said he wished
to seek, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To be told that to try he had a cheek, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And he'd better move while still was
free, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To go as he pleased all the way home to
Dundee. </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And them his finest hour came, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Or maybe his greatest composition of
shame! </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">When the Tay
Bridge collapsed in a gale </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">While upon it crossed a train by rail… </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And to write upon it he was possessed </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To read his words few were impressed </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And his ode to the tragedy of the
bridge of the Tay </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Causes smiles to all to this very day. </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Was he a fool… or just a bad poet </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">If he was a fool he seemed not to know
it </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Some say he was clever acted if on a
stage, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Commanded an audience as he read each
page. </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Though they laughed at him things
threw, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">That he brightened their day that much
he knew </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And how many writers who so serious
could be </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Will be long forgotten when remembered
is he? </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">How many poets refuse to use rhyme </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mc Gonagall insisted to use it all the
time </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Unfortunately the pattern often fell
out of place, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">For the Romantics cast him from grace, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">He was but a common man, at least he
did try, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To be like him, none want to be
including I, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">But still to convention he was never a
slave, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And to his emotions was never the knave
</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">As I this verse write in his appalling
style </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">I admire his bravery, smiling all the
while, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Though great are his foes and his
friends are few, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">To his art in his heart he tried to be
true, </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">Those who read his words may mock and
may grin </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">But to be a weaver and a poets no sin </span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">And as I sit here more poetry to write,
</span></strong><br>
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial;">May I be pure as heart as he as I
scribble tonight!</span></strong></b><br>
© 2007 Tomas O Carthaigh<br>
<br>
<span class="hccdpe">----------</span><br>
<br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Tom Carty</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:cartyweb@hotmail.com">cartyweb@hotmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">Forerunners of rap</span><br>
<br>
<a href="http://lowlands-l.net/traditions/music_rap.php" target="_blank">http://lowlands-l.net/traditions/music_rap.php</a><br>
<br>
As a footnote to the article I wrote earlier - see link - it has been reported
in the press that the Scottish practice of "flyting" - hurling verbal
insults in a semi poetic form, and responding similarily - may have influenced
the negro slaves held by Scots in the Old South. Remember: you read it on
Lowlands-L first!!!<br>
<br>
Tomás<br>
<br>
Poetry on all topics...<br>
______________________________</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Writings in
Rhyme<br>
<a href="http://www.writingsinrhyme.com/" target="_blank">www.writingsinrhyme.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.lulu.com/cartyweb" target="_blank">www.lulu.com/cartyweb</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>