Temperance Gems: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Temperance Gems, credited to William McGonagall, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Temperance Gems, by William McGonagall. Good people all, of every degree, I pray, ye all be warned by me: I advise ye all to pause and think, And never more to taste strong drink. Some people do say it is good when taken in moderation, But, when taken to excess, it leads to tribulation, Also to starvation and loss of reputation, Likewise your eternal soul's damnation. McGonagall has been widely acclaimed as the worst poet in British history. He campaigned vigorously against excessive drinking, appearing in pubs and bars to give edifying poems and speeches. These were very popular, the people of Dundee possibly recognising that McGonagall was "so giftedly bad he backed unwittingly into genius". Six of those poems are recited here. Summary collated from McGonagall's verse and Wikipedia by Cori Samuel.

Recording facts

• Recording title: Temperance Gems
• Author credits: William McGonagall
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 6
• Listed recording duration: 30:10

Catalogue topics

• poetry
• poems
• temperance gems
• william mcgonagall
• english poem

Track guide

1. 1 - The Rattling Boy from Dublin — 4:24
2. 2 - A Tribute to Mr. Murphy and the Blue Ribbon Army — 4:01
3. 3 - The Destroying Angel or The Poet's Dream — 5:50
4. 4 - The Troubles of Matthew Mahoney — 4:37
5. 5 - The Demon Drink — 5:47
6. 6 - A New Temperance Poem, in Memory of my Departed Parents — 5:33

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.