Poets' Corner


Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there.
The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer. Over the centuries, a tradition has grown up of interring or memorialising people there in recognition of their contribution to British culture. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the honour is awarded to writers.
In 2009, the founders of the Royal Ballet were commemorated in a memorial floor stone and on 25 September 2010, the writer Elizabeth Gaskell was celebrated with the dedication of a panel in the memorial window. On 6 December 2011, former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was commemorated with a floor stone. On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone. The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016.

History

The first poet interred in Poets' Corner, Geoffrey Chaucer, owed his 1400 burial in the Abbey more to his position as Clerk of Works of the Palace of Westminster than to his fame as a writer. The erection of his magnificent tomb by Nicholas Brigham in 1556 and the nearby burial of Edmund Spenser in 1599 began a tradition that still continues. The area also houses the tombs of several Canons and Deans of the Abbey, as well as the grave of Thomas Parr who, it is said, died at the age of 152 in 1635 after having seen ten sovereigns on the throne.
Burial or commemoration in the Abbey does not always occur at or soon after the time of death. Lord Byron, for example, whose poetry was admired but who maintained a scandalous lifestyle, died in 1824 but was not given a memorial until 1969. Even William Shakespeare, buried at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, was not honoured with a monument until 1740 when one designed by William Kent was constructed in Poets' Corner Samuel Horsley, Dean of Westminster in 1796, was said to have tartly refused the request for actress Kitty Clive to be buried in the Abbey:
Not all poets appreciated memorialisation and Samuel Wesley's epitaph for Samuel Butler, who supposedly died in poverty, continued Butler's satiric tone:
Some of those buried in Poets' Corner also had memorials erected to them over or near their grave, either around the time of their death or later. In some cases, such as Joseph Addison, the burial took place elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, with a memorial later erected in Poets' Corner. In some cases a full burial of a body took place, in other cases the body was cremated and the ashes buried. There are also cases where there was support for a particular individual to be buried in Poets' Corner, but the decision was made to bury them elsewhere in the Abbey, such as Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Other notable poets and writers, such as Aphra Behn, are buried elsewhere in the Abbey. At least two of the memorials were later moved to a location elsewhere in the Abbey due to the discovery of old paintings on the wall behind them.

Memorial types

The memorials can take several forms. Some are stone slabs set in the floor with a name and inscription carved on them, while others are more elaborate and carved stone monuments, or hanging stone tablets, or memorial busts. Some are commemorated in groups, such as the joint memorial for the Brontë sisters, the sixteen First World War poets inscribed on a stone floor slab and unveiled in 1985, and the four founders of the Royal Ballet, commemorated together in 2009.
The grave of Ben Jonson is not in Poets' Corner, but is in the north aisle of the nave. It has the inscription "O Rare Ben Johnson" on the slab above it. It has been suggested that this could be read "Orare Ben Johnson", which would indicate a deathbed return to Catholicism, but the carving shows a distinct space between "O" and "rare". The fact that he was buried in an upright grave could be an indication of his reduced circumstances at the time of his death but it has also been suggested that Jonson asked for a grave exactly 18 inches square from the monarch and received an upright grave to fit in the requested space. As well as the gravestone in the north aisle of the nave, a wall tablet commemorating Jonson was later erected in Poets' Corner.
As floor and wall space began to run out, the decision was taken to install a stained glass memorial window, and it is here that new names are added in the form of inscribed panes of glass. There is room for 20 names, and currently there are six names on this window, with the latest entry unveiled on 25 September 2010.

Burials

Memorials

First World War poets

The memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, to 16 Great War poets is a slate stone slab with the names of the poets inscribed on it. It was unveiled on 11 November 1985, the 67th anniversary of the Armistice. An additional inscription quotes Owen's "Preface":
ImagePoetBornDiedAge when
war started		Notes on
war service		Notes on
poetry
...Richard Aldington1892196222Enlisted 1916
Commissioned 1917
Second Lieutenant
Royal Sussex Regiment		...
Laurence Binyon1869194344Volunteered in 1915 and 1916
Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois
British hospital for French soldiers		...
Edmund Blunden1896197417Commissioned August 1915
Second Lieutenant
Royal Sussex Regiment		...
Rupert Brooke †1887191527Commissioned August 1914
Temporary Sub-Lieutenant
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve		...
...Wilfrid Gibson1878196235Rejected several times
Enlisted October 1917
Army Service Corps
Never saw active service		...
...Robert Graves1895198519Commissioned 1914
Royal Welch Fusiliers		...
Julian Grenfell †1888191526Commissioned 1910
Captain
Royal Dragoons		...
...Ivor Gurney1890193723Private
Gloucestershire Regiment		...
...David Jones1895197418Royal Welch Fusiliers...
Robert Nichols1893194420Commissioned 1914
Royal Artillery		...
Wilfred Owen †1893191821Enlisted 1915
Commissioned June 1916
Second Lieutenant
Manchester Regiment		...
Herbert Read1893196820Captain
Green Howards		...
Isaac Rosenberg †1890191823Enlisted October 1915
12th Suffolk Folk Regiment
King's Own Royal Lancaster		...
Siegfried Sassoon1886196727Enlisted 1914
Commissioned May 1915
Captain
Royal Welch Fusiliers		...
Charles Sorley †1895191519Enlisted 1914
Captain
Suffolk Regiment		...
Edward Thomas †1878191736Enlisted July 1915
Artists Rifles
Commissioned November 1916
Royal Garrison Artillery		...

Royal Ballet

The stone slab floor memorial to the four founders of the Royal Ballet was dedicated on 17 November 2009.
ImageNameBornDiedAge at deathNotes on
Royal Ballet role
Ninette de Valois18982001102...
...Frederick Ashton1904198884...
Constant Lambert1905195145...
Margot Fonteyn1919199171...

Elsewhere in the Abbey

Poets and writers commemorated elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, but not in Poets' Corner proper.
ImageNameBornDiedAge at deathYear
commemorated		Details of
memorial		Notes on
artistic career
...Robert Ayton1570163867–68BustPoet
Aphra Behn1640168948GravestoneAuthor and playwright
Edward Bulwer-Lytton1803187369GravestoneAuthor and poet
John Bunyan16281688591912Memorial windowAuthor
Margaret Cavendish1623167369–70MonumentAuthor and poet
William Cavendish1592167684MonumentPlaywright and poet
William Congreve1670172958c.1730MonumentPlaywright and poet
Noël Coward18991973731984Floor stonePlaywright and composer
William Cowper17311800681876Memorial windowPoet and hymnodist
Wentworth Dillon1637168547–48Grave not markedPoet
Benjamin Disraeli18041881761884StatueAuthor
George Herbert15931633391876Memorial windowPoet and orator
Robert Howard1626169872Playwright
Charles Kingsley18191875551875BustAuthor
James R. Lowell1819189172Tablet and windowPoet
F. D. Maurice18051872661932BustAuthor
Anne Oldfield1683173047GravestoneActress
Henry Spelmanc.1564164176–77GravestoneAntiquarian
Arthur P. Stanley18151881651884Tomb and effigyAuthor
Sybil Thorndike1882197693GravestoneActress
Ralph Vaughan Williams18721958861958Floor stoneComposer
Isaac Watts16741748741779MonumentHymnodist