English: Grave of William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (1830-1902) spent much of his life in Dundee where for a time he was an actor. Later,in Edinburgh,he was feted by university students who played to his vanity as a poet of doggerel verse. Indeed he is quoted as saying, "I bow the knee to no man, nay not even Shakespeare", and described himself as "Poet and Tradegian". Amongst his poems is 'The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay' about the Tay Bridge disaster.He is buried here in Greyfriars kirkyard near this recent memorial stone.