Poets' Corner

Poets' Corner is a section of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey in London, England, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated.

The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400.<ref>Harold Bloom (2009). "Geoffrey Chaucer". p. 13. Infobase Publishing</ref> William Shakespeare was commemorated with a monument in 1740, over a century after his death. 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.<ref name="Gaskell">"Elizabeth Gaskell". Westminster-abbey.org (25 September 2010). Retrieved on 21 October 2011.</ref> On 6 December 2011 Ted Hughes, a former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, was commemorated with a floor stone.<ref>Ted Hughes takes his place in Poets' Corner, BBC News, 6 December 2011</ref> On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, the writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone.<ref>"CS Lewis honoured with Poets' Corner memorial". BBC News. Retrieved 23 November 2012</ref> The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Poets Corner">Template:Cite news</ref>

History

File:View of Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey 01.jpg

Partial view of Poets' Corner

File:View of the west wall of Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.jpg

The west wall of Poets' Corner

The first poet interred in Poets' Corner, Geoffrey Chaucer, owed his 1400 burial in the Abbey (in front of St. Benedict's Chapel) more to his position as Clerk of Works of the Palace of Westminster than to his fame as a writer. The erection of his tomb by Nicholas Brigham in 1556 (to where Chaucer's remains were then transferred) 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 (though shortly after Shakespeare's death William Basse had suggested Shakespeare should be buried there). Samuel Horsley, Dean of Westminster in 1796, was said to have tartly refused the request for the actress Kitty Clive to be buried in the Abbey:

if we do not draw some line in this theatrical ambition to mortuary fame, we shall soon make Westminster Abbey little better than a Gothic Green Room!<ref>The Times, 26 March 1796, p. 3</ref>

Not all poets appreciated memorialisation and Samuel Wesley's epitaph for Samuel Butler, who supposedly died in poverty, continued Butler's satiric tone:

File:Charles Dickens grave 2012.jpg

Grave of Charles Dickens

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, later, 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 (both to individuals buried in Poets' Corner – Nicholas Rowe and John Gay) were later moved to a location elsewhere in the Abbey due to the discovery of old paintings on the wall behind them. In 1936 the ashes of the author and poet Rudyard Kipling were interred.

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 (commissioned in 1939, but not unveiled until 1947 due to the Second World War), 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.<ref>A Service to Dedicate a Memorial to the Founders of the Royal Ballet, Westminster Abbey press release, November 2009, accessed 16 March 2010</ref>

File:Brontes plaque Westminster Abbey.jpg

Brontë sisters wall tablet

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" (perhaps the original spelling) on the slab above it. It has been suggested that this could be read "Orare Ben Johnson" (pray for Ben Johnson), which would indicate a deathbed return to Catholicism, but the carving shows a distinct space between "O" and "rare".<ref name=DCWA>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The fact that he was buried in an upright grave could be an indication of his reduced circumstances at the time of his death<ref>Adams, J. Q. The Jonson Allusion Book. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922: 195–6.</ref> 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.<ref name="world and its people">Template:Cite book</ref> 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 (unveiled in 1994 in memory of Edward Horton Hubbard), 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 (Elizabeth Gaskell) unveiled on 25 September 2010.<ref>Abbey to honour Cranford's creator, Westminster Abbey press release, January 2010, accessed 15 March 2010</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The memorial ceremonies often include guest speakers. In 1995, Oscar Wilde was commemorated in the window and those in attendance included Sir John Gielgud and Dame Judi Dench who both read extracts from his work.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Burials

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Details of funeral / memorial	Occupation
File:Robert-adam.jpg	Robert Adam	1729	1792	63	Grave & gravestone	Architect
File:Isaac Barrow memorial.jpg	Isaac Barrow	1630	1677	46	Grave & marble memorial bust on a pedestal by John Bushnell<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Mathematician
File:Francis Beaumont.jpg	Francis Beaumont	1584	1616	31–32	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright
...	John Beaumont	1583	1627	43–44	Unmarked grave<ref name="Beaumont"/>	Poet
...	William Benson	unknown	1549	unknown	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Abbot of Westminster
Mary Eleanor Bowes and her husband John Lyon.	Mary Eleanor Bowes	1749	1800	51	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
File:Robert & Elizabeth Barrett Browning memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Robert Browning	1812	1889	77	Browning's grave & gravestone is immediately adjacent to that of Alfred, Lord Tennyson<ref name="Browning">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
File:Monument to Richard Busby, Westminster Abbey 03.jpg	Richard Busby	1606	1695	88–89	Busby is buried beneath the pavement of the Choir while his memorial, by the sculptor Francis Bird, is located in the South Transept.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Headmaster
File:William Camden by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger.jpg	William Camden	1551	1623	72	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Antiquarian and historian
File:Statue of Thomas Campbell, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg	Thomas Campbell	1777	1844	66	Funeral 3 July 1844.;<ref>The Times, 29 June 1844, p. 6; 4 July 1844, p. 5</ref> Statue by William Calder Marshall erected 1848<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Rev. Henry Francis Cary.jpg	Henry Francis Cary	1772	1844	72	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author and translator
File:Isaac Casaubon from NPG.jpg	Isaac Casaubon	1559	1614	55	Wall monument in black & white marble by sculptor Nicholas Stone<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Classical scholar
File:Sir William Chambers.jpg	William Chambers	1723	1796	75	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Architect
File:Chaucer manuscrit portrait (détail).jpeg	Geoffrey Chaucer	c. 1343	1400	56–57	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author and poet
File:Bust of Abraham Cowley in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, Wellcome V0018688.jpg	Abraham Cowley	1618	1667	48–49	White marble monument, of an urn on a pedestal, by John Bushnell<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> Large black marble gravestone to which several further names have been added.	Poet
File:Richard Cumberland, dramatist.jpg	Richard Cumberland	1732	1811	79	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright
File:William Davenant.jpg	William Davenant	1606	1668	62	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
File:Sir-john-denham-1.jpg	John Denham	1614 or 1615	1669	63–65	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Dickens Gurney head.jpg	Charles Dickens	1812	1870	58	Dickens's will did not dictate his place of burial, but stipulated that there be no grand funeral ceremony. He was therefore given a secret early-morning funeral in the Abbey, 14 June 1870.<ref>'Funeral of Mr. Charles Dickens', The Times, 15 June 1870.</ref>	Author
File:MichaelDrayton.jpg	Michael Drayton	1563	1631	67–68	Died in London. Memorial bust & surround in alabaster & black marble placed by the Countess of Dorset, with lines attributed to Ben Jonson.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:John Dryden bust, Westminster Abbey.jpg	John Dryden	1631	1700	68	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial bust on pedestal by Peter Scheemakers was erected in 1731, replacing an earlier memorial.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
...	Adam Fox	1888	1977	93–94	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Oxford Professor of Poetry Canon of Westminster Abbey
File:David Garrick monument. Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	David Garrick	1717	1779	61	Grave plus monument in white and grey marble by Henry Webber on the west wall of Poets' Corner<ref name="DG">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Actor
File:John Gay - Project Gutenberg eText 13790.jpg	John Gay	1685	1732	47	Buried in South Transept, with a monument by John Michael Rysbrack which is now in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
File:William Gifford by John Hoppner.jpg	William Gifford	1756	1826	70	Gifford wanted to be buried in South Audley Chapel, "but for the pressing request of his grateful executor [John Ireland, Dean of Westminster], who was anxious that Gifford's remains should be mingled with the great and good in Poets' Corner, Westminster-abbey."<ref>The Times, 13 February 1827, p. 3</ref>	Poet and editor
File:Bust of George Grote, Westminster Abbey.jpg	George Grote	1794	1871	76	Marble bust by Charles Bacon, 1873<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Historian
File:RichardHakluyt-BristolCathedral-stainedglasswindow.jpg	Richard Hakluyt	c.1552	1616	63–64	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author
File:Handel monument in Poets' Corner.jpg	George Frideric Handel	1685	1759	74	Life-size sculpture by Louis-François Roubiliac with musical scores and instruments represented.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Composer
File:Thomashardy restored.jpg	Thomas Hardy	1840	1928	87	Hardy's funeral, on 16 January 1928, was controversial. Hardy had wanted to be buried at Stinsford in the grave of his first wife, Emma. His executor, Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, was adamant that Hardy warranted interment in the Poets' Corner. A compromise saw his heart buried at Stinsford, and his ashes at the Abbey.	Author and poet
File:John Henderson by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg	John Henderson	1747	1785	38	Buried at the foot of the grave of David Garrick in the south transept. The inscription has now worn away but it read: "Underneath this stone are interr'd the remains of John Henderson who died the 25th day of Novembr. 1785 aged 38 years".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Actor
File:Henry Irving portrait.jpg	Henry Irving	1838	1905	67	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Actor
File:Bust of Samuel Johnson.jpg	Samuel Johnson	1709	1784	75	Bust by Joseph Nollekens located above Johnson's grave<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author, poet and lexicographer
File:Rudyard Kipling.jpg	Rudyard Kipling	1865	1936	70	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author and poet
...	Nicholas Litlyngton	before 1315	1386	70+	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Abbot of Westminster
File:Bust of Thomas Babington Macaulay, Poets' Corner 03.jpg	Thomas Macaulay	1800	1859	59	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and historian
File:James Macpherson by George Romney.jpg	James Macpherson	1736	1796	59	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author and poet
File:John Masefield 1913.jpg	John Masefield	1878	1967	88	According to his wishes, was cremated and his ashes placed in Poets' Corner.	Poet and author
...	Robert Moray	1608/9	1673	63–65	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone.	Statesman and natural philosopher
File:Gilbert Murray.jpg	Gilbert Murray	1866	1957	91	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Scholar and translator
File:Olivier plaque.jpg	Laurence, Lord Olivier	1907	1989	82	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Actor
File:Thomas Parr.jpg	Old Tom Parr	1483	1635	152	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Supposedly long-lived Englishman
File:Bust of Matthew Prior, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Matthew Prior	1664	1721	57	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial, designed by James Gibbs, with a bust by Antoine Coysevox and figures by John Michael Rysbrack erected by 1726.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and diplomat
File:Nicholas Rowe from NPG.jpg	Nicholas Rowe	1674	1718	44	Buried in South Transept, with a monument by John Michael Rysbrack which is now in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright and poet
File:Charles de Marquetel de Saint-Evremond by Jacques Parmentier.jpg	Charles de Saint-Évremond	1610	1703	93	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. Memorial was also erected.	Essayist and literary critic
File:Richard Brinsley Sheridan.jpg	Richard Brinsley Sheridan	1751	1816	64	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright and poet
File:Robert South detail, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Robert South	1634	1716	81	Monument by Francis Bird<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Theologian and poet
File:EdmundSpenser.jpg	Edmund Spenser	c. 1552	1599	46–47	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
...	Robert Stapylton	c.1607	1669	61–62	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright
...	Mary Steele	1678	1718	40	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Letter writer
File:Bust of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	1809	1892	83	Large public funeral, 12 October 1892.<ref>The Times, 13 October 1892</ref> In 1893 the government formally requested there be a bust of Tennyson in Poets' Corner. The businessman-botanist Charles Jenner offered Thomas Woolner's 1857 bust of Tennyson to the Abbey, and it was placed near Tennyson's gravestone, by moving a tablet to Christopher Anstey, in 1895. There was no formal unveiling ceremony.<ref>"In accordance with the wish of the family there was no formal ceremonial of unveiling, and, as in the case of General Gordon, Dean Stanley, and the Earl of Beaconsfield, the memorial was placed, a possession for ever, in the presence of none save those by whom the work was done." The Times, 3 June 1895, p. 6</ref>	Poet
File:Bust of Connop Thirlwall, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Connop Thirlwall	1797	1875	78	Marble bust by sculptor Edward Davis<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Bishop and historian
File:Thomas Triplet memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Thomas Triplet	1602	1670	68	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Prebendary
File:Mrs garrick.PNG	Eva Marie Veigel	1724	1822	98	Buried with her husband David Garrick<ref name="DG"/>	Dancer

Memorials

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Year commemorated	Details of memorial	Occupation
File:Statue of Joseph Addison, Westminster Abbey 03.jpg	Joseph Addison	1672	1719	47	1809	Statue by Richard Westmacott. Addison is buried elsewhere in the Abbey.	Poet and essayist
File:Christopher Anstey with his daughter by William Hoare.jpg	Christopher Anstey	1724	1805	80	1807	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and author
File:Bust of Matthew Arnold, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Matthew Arnold	1822	1888	65	1989	Memorial bust of 1891 in the east aisle of Poets' Corner by Albert Bruce-Joy. There is also a 1989 limestone and slate plaque honouring Arnold, by Donald Buttress, in Poets' Corner.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Actrice Peggy Ashcroft op Schiphol voor optreden in Stadsschouwburg, Bestanddeelnr 914-0309.jpg	Peggy Ashcroft	1907	1991	83	2005	Floor stone	Actress
File:AudenVanVechten1939.jpg	W. H. Auden	1907	1973	66	1974	Floor stone	Poet
File:Jane Austen, Poets' Corner.jpg	Jane Austen	1775	1817	41	1967	Wall tablet	Author
File:Memorial to John Betjeman, Westminster Abbey.jpg	John Betjeman	1906	1984	77	1996	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and author
File:Bronze bust of William Blake, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	William Blake	1757	1827	69	1957	Bronze memorial bust by Jacob Epstein, 1957<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and artist
...	Barton Booth	1681	1733	51–52	1772	Monument	Actor
File:Charlotte Brontë Richmond cropped.tif	Charlotte Brontë	1816	1855	38	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
File:Anne Brontë by Patrick Branwell Brontë restored.jpg	Anne Brontë	1820	1849	29	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
File:Emily Brontë by Patrick Branwell Brontë restored.jpg	Emily Brontë	1818	1848	30	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
File:Robert & Elizabeth Barrett Browning memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Elizabeth Barrett Browning	1806	1861	55	1906	Inscription added to Robert Browning's gravestone in 1906<ref name="Browning"/>	Poet
File:Frances d'Arblay ('Fanny Burney') by Edward Francisco Burney.jpg	Fanny Burney	1752	1840	87	2002	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Author and playwright
File:Bust of Robert Burns, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg	Robert Burns	1759	1796	37	1885	Marble memorial bust by John Steell. Unveiled 7 March 1885 by the Earl of Rosebery.<ref>The Times, 9 March 1885</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Bust of Samuel Butler, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Samuel Butler	1612	1680	68	1721	Memorial bust thought to be by John Michael Rysbrack; Butler is buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Byron 1813 by Phillips.jpg	George, Lord Byron	1788	1824	36	1969	Floor stone	Poet
File:MemorialToCaedmon(RichardThomas)Jul2006.jpg	Cædmon	fl.657	fl.680	unknown	1966	Floor stone	Poet
File:Monument to John Campbell, Duke of Argyll, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg	John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll	1678	1743	64	1749	Monument by Louis-Francois Roubiliac, erected 1749, with figures representing History, Eloquence and Minerva. The Duke is buried elsewhere in the Abbey.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Soldier and nobleman
File:Lewis Carroll 1863.jpg	Lewis Carroll	1832	1898	65	1982	Floor stone	Author
File:John Clare.jpg	John Clare	1793	1864	70	1989	Floor stone	Poet
File:Bust of Coleridge, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Samuel Taylor Coleridge	1772	1834	61	1885	Memorial bust by Hamo Thornycroft<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:George Eliot at 30 by François D'Albert Durade.jpg	George Eliot	1819	1880	61	1980	Floor stone	Author
File:T.S. Eliot, 1923.JPG	T. S. Eliot	1888	1965	76	1967	Floor stone	Poet and playwright
File:David Frost Rumsfeld interview cropped.jpg	David Frost	1939	2013	74	2014	Floor stone<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Journalist, comedian, writer and media personality
File:Elizabeth Gaskell 1832.jpg	Elizabeth Gaskell	1810	1865	55	2010	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Novelist
File:JG-Benedick-1959.jpg	John Gielgud	1904	2000	96	2022	Floor stone	Actor and director
File:Oliver Goldsmith by Sir Joshua Reynolds.jpg	Oliver Goldsmith	1728	1774	45	1776	Memorial tablet and bust	Poet and playwright
File:Bust of Adam Lindsay Gordon, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	Adam Lindsay Gordon	1833	1870	36	1934	Memorial bust by Kathleen Scott<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Monument to John Ernest Grabe, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	John Ernest Grabe	1666	1711	44–45	1727	Monument by Francis Bird on the west wall of Poets' Corner erected 1726<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Priest and theologian
File:PortraitThomasGrayByJohnGilesEccart1747to1748.jpg	Thomas Gray	1716	1771	54	1778	Monument	Poet and historian
File:Stephen Hales.jpg	Stephen Hales	1677	1761	83	1761	Monument	Priest and scientist
File:Robert Herrick 1591-1674.jpg	Robert Herrick	1591	1674	83	1994	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
File:GerardManleyHopkins.jpg	Gerard Manley Hopkins	1844	1889	44	1975	Floor stone	Poet
	A. E. Housman	1859	1936	77	1996	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
File:Poet Ted HughesDCP 2068.JPG	Ted Hughes	1930	1998	68	2011	Floor stone at the foot of that for T. S. Eliot, one of his main influences	Poet
File:HenryJamesPhotograph.png	Henry James	1843	1916	72	1976	Floor stone	Author
File:Ben Jonson memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Ben Jonson	1572	1637	65	1723	Memorial with portrait medallion and masks designed by James Gibbs and carved by John Michael Rysbrack.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright and poet
File:John Keats by William Hilton.jpg	John Keats	1795	1821	25	1954	Mural tablet	Poet
File:Bust of John Keble, Westminster Abbey, London.jpg	John Keble	1792	1866	73	1873	Bust by Thomas Woolner	Poet
File:Bust of Charles Kingsley, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Charles Kingsley	1819	1875	55	1875	Bust by Thomas Woolner	Author
File:Philip Larkin memorial floorstone, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Philip Larkin	1922	1985	63	2016	Floor stone. The stone was inscribed with the final two lines from "An Arundel Tomb": Our almost-instinct almost true: What will survive of us is love.<ref name="Poets Corner"/>	Poet and novelist
File:DH Lawrence floorstone in Poets Corner.jpg	D. H. Lawrence	1885	1930	44	1985	Floor stone	Author and poet
File:Edward Lear floorstone, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Edward Lear	1812	1888	75	1988	Floor stone	Author and poet
File:C.S. Lewis memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	C. S. Lewis	1898	1963	64	2013	Floor stone. The dedication service, at noon on 22 November 2013, included a reading from The Last Battle by Douglas Gresham, younger stepson of Lewis. Flowers were laid by Walter Hooper, trustee and literary advisor to the Lewis Estate. An address was delivered by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The floor stone inscription is a quotation from an address by Lewis: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Author
File:Jenny Lind memorial, Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Jenny Lind	1820	1887	67	1894	Wall tablet. "A medallion portrait of the famous singer – the last work of the late Mr Birch – has been placed in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, and was yesterday unveiled by the Princess Christian."<ref>The Times, 21 April 1894</ref>	Opera singer
File:Bust of Longfellow, Poets' Corner.jpg	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	1807	1882	75	1884	Marble bust by Thomas Brock, unveiled 1 March 1884.<ref>The Times, 2 November 1992, p. 6; 26 February 1884, p. 10; 3 March 1884, p. 8</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Frederic William Maitland by Beatrice Lock (Mrs Fripp).jpg	F. W. Maitland	1850	1906	56	2001	Floor stone	Historian
File:Christopher Marlowe.jpg	Christopher Marlowe (disputed portrait)	1564	1593	29	2002	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Playwright and poet
File:William Mason memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	William Mason	1724	1797	72–73	1799	Memorial, by John Bacon, in the east aisle of Poets' Corner	Poet
File:Bust of Frederick Dension Maurice, Westminster Abbey.jpg	F. D. Maurice	1805	1872	66	1932	Bust in east aisle of Poets' Corner by Thomas Woolner	Author
...	Thomas May	1595	1650	54–56	1880	Wall stone	Poet and playwright
File:Monument to John Milton, Westminster Abbey 03.jpg	John Milton	1608	1674	65	1737	Monument with bust by John Michael Rysbrack	Poet and author
File:John Philips from NPG.jpg	John Philips	1676	1709	32	1710	Monument	Poet
File:Alexander Pope by Michael Dahl.jpg	Alexander Pope	1688	1744	56	1994	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
File:John Pringle.jpg	John Pringle	1707	1782	74	...	Monument	Military physician
File:Hannah Pritchard.jpg	Hannah Pritchard	1711	1768	56–57	...	Monument. Later moved to the triforium.	Actress
File:John Ruskin plaque, Westminster Abbey.jpg	John Ruskin	1819	1900	80	1902	Portrait roundel in bronze by Edward Onslow Ford. Unveiled 8 February 1902, after a controversy over whether Ruskin felt monuments like this wasted money and disfigured a building's architectural unity.<ref>Sydney C. Cockerell letter to The Times, 22 August 1900; The Times, 7 February 1902, p. 9; 10 February 1902, p. 8</ref>	Poet and art critic
File:Bust of Walter Scott, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Walter Scott	1771	1832	61	1897	Bust by the Scottish sculptor John Hutchison, "a beautifully executed copy of the famous Chantrey bust at Abbotsford".<ref>The Times, 22 May 1897, p. 16</ref>	Author and poet
File:Thomas Shadwell from NPG.jpg	Thomas Shadwell	c.1642	1692	~50	c.1700	Monument	Poet and playwright
File:Shakespeare memorial, Poets' Corner.jpg	William Shakespeare	1564	1616	52	1740	Statue with surround designed by William Kent and carved by Peter Scheemakers<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Playwright and poet
File:Grsharp.jpg	Granville Sharp	1735	1813	77	1816	Monument	Slavery abolitionist
File:Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Curran, 1819.jpg	Percy Bysshe Shelley	1792	1822	29	1954	Mural tablet	Poet
File:Robert Southey memorial, Westminster Abbey.jpg	Robert Southey	1774	1843	68	1845	Marble memorial bust with surround by Henry Weekes<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Bust of Thackeray, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	William Makepeace Thackeray	1811	1863	52	1865	Marble bust by Carlo Marochetti<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Author
File:James Thomson memorial, Westminster Abbey 01.jpg	James Thomson	1700	1748	47	1762	Sculpture group designed by Robert Adam and carved by Michael Spring<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet and playwright
File:Dylan Swansea.jpg	Dylan Thomas	1914	1953	39	1982	Floor stone	Poet and author
File:Sarony, Napoleon (1821-1896) - Trollope, Anthony (1815-1882).jpg	Anthony Trollope	1815	1882	67	1993	Floor stone	Author
File:William Vincent by GP Harding after William Owen.jpg	William Vincent	1739	1815	76	c.1815<ref>"Yesterday morning, at half-past eleven o'clock, the remains of Dr. VINCENT, the Dean of Westminster, were interred in a private manner, at the back of DRYDEN's monument." The Times, 30 December 1815, p. 3</ref> 1	Monument	Dean of Westminster
File:Oscar Wilde by Sarony 1882 01.jpg	Oscar Wilde	1854	1900	46	1995	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Playwright and author
File:Statue of William Wordsworth, Poets' Corner.jpg	William Wordsworth	1770	1850	80	1854	Statue by Frederick Thrupp erected 1854.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:James Wyatt.JPG	James Wyatt	1746	1813	67	...	Monument	Architect

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":<ref>Poets of the Great War Template:Webarchive, Brigham Young University, accessed 14 March 2010</ref>

File:WW1 Poets floorstone, Westminster Abbey.jpg

Poets of the First World War memorial

Image	Poet	Born	Died	Age when war started<ref>The date used here is 4 August 1914, the date Britain entered the war.</ref>	Notes on war service	Notes on poetry
...	Richard Aldington	1892	1962	22	Enlisted 1916 Commissioned 1917 Second Lieutenant Royal Sussex Regiment	...
File:Laurence Binyon by William Strang.jpg	Laurence Binyon	1869	1943	44	Volunteered in 1915 and 1916 Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois British hospital for French soldiers	...
File:Edmundblundencirca1914.jpg	Edmund Blunden	1896	1974	17	Commissioned August 1915 Second Lieutenant Royal Sussex Regiment	...
File:Rupert Brooke Q 71073.jpg	Rupert Brooke †	1887	1915	27	Commissioned August 1914 Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve	...
...	Wilfrid Gibson	1878	1962	35	Rejected several times Enlisted October 1917 Army Service Corps (Motor Transport) Never saw active service	...
...	Robert Graves	1895	1985	19	Commissioned 1914 Royal Welch Fusiliers	...
File:Julian Grenfell (For Remembrance) cropped.jpg	Julian Grenfell †	1888	1915	26	Commissioned 1910 Captain (at time of death) Royal Dragoons	...
...	Ivor Gurney	1890	1937	23	Private Gloucestershire Regiment	...
File:David jones.jpg	David Jones	1895	1974	18	Enlisted 1915 Private Royal Welch Fusiliers	...
File:Robert Nichols, by Elliott & Fry.jpg	Robert Nichols	1893	1944	20	Commissioned 1914 Royal Artillery	...
File:Wilfred Owen plate from Poems (1920).jpg	Wilfred Owen †	1893	1918	21	Enlisted 1915 Commissioned June 1916 Second Lieutenant Manchester Regiment	...
File:Herbert Read (1966).jpg	Herbert Read	1893	1968	20	Captain Green Howards	...
File:Isaac Rosenberg by Isaac Rosenberg.jpg	Isaac Rosenberg †	1890	1918	23	Enlisted October 1915 12th Suffolk Folk Regiment King's Own Royal Lancaster	...
File:Siegfried Sassoon by George Charles Beresford (1915).jpg	Siegfried Sassoon	1886	1967	27	Enlisted 1914 Commissioned May 1915 Captain (at end of war) Royal Welch Fusiliers	...
File:Charles Hamilton Sorley (For Remembrance) cropped and retouched.jpg	Charles Sorley †	1895	1915	19	Enlisted 1914 Captain (at time of death) Suffolk Regiment	...
File:Edward Thomas.jpg	Edward Thomas †	1878	1917	36	Enlisted July 1915 Artists Rifles Commissioned November 1916 Royal Garrison Artillery	...

The ^† symbol indicates poets who died during the war.

Royal Ballet

The stone slab floor memorial to the four founders of the Royal Ballet was dedicated on 17 November 2009.

File:Royal Ballet floorstone, Westminster Abbey.jpg

Founders of the Royal Ballet floor stone

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Notes on Royal Ballet role
	Ninette de Valois	1898	2001	102	...
...	Frederick Ashton	1904	1988	84	...
File:Constant Lambert by Christopher Wood.jpg	Constant Lambert	1905	1951	45	...
File:Margot Fonteyn - 1960s.jpg	Margot Fonteyn	1919	1991	71	...

Elsewhere in the Abbey

Poets and writers commemorated elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, but not in Poets' Corner proper.<ref>Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey (James Wilkinson, 2007), inside back page</ref><ref>Treasures of Westminster Abbey (Tony Trowles, 2008)</ref>

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Year commemorated	Details of memorial	Notes on artistic career
File:Robert Ayton memorial, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg	Robert Ayton	1570	1638	67–68		citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Poet
File:Aphra Behn by Peter Lely ca. 1670.jpg	Aphra Behn	1640	1689	48		Gravestone	Author and playwright
File:Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton by Henry William Pickersgill.jpg	Edward Bulwer-Lytton	1803	1873	69		Gravestone	Author and poet
File:John Bunyan by Thomas Sadler 1684.jpg	John Bunyan	1628	1688	59	1912	Memorial window	Author
File:Mary Lucas.jpg	Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1623	1673	69–70		Monument	Author and poet
File:Monument to William & Margaret Cavendish, Westminster Abbey.jpg	William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne	1592	1676	84		Monument	Playwright and poet
File:William Congreve.jpg	William Congreve	1670	1729	58	c.1730	Monument	Playwright and poet
File:Noel Coward Allan warren edit 1.jpg	Noël Coward	1899	1973	73	1984	Floor stone	Playwright and composer
File:Print William Cowper (BM 1915,0508.129).jpg	William Cowper	1731	1800	68	1876	Memorial window	Poet and hymnodist
File:4thEarlOfRoscommon.jpg	Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon	1637	1685	47–48		Grave not marked	Poet
File:Statue of Benjamin Disraeli, Westminster Abbey 02.jpg	Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield	1804	1881	76	1884	Statue by Joseph Boehm	Author and politician
File:George Herbert.jpg	George Herbert	1593	1633	39	1876	Memorial window	Poet and orator
File:Sir Robert Howard.jpg	Robert Howard	1626	1698	72			Playwright
File:James Russell Lowell - 1855.jpg	James R. Lowell	1819	1891	72		Tablet and window	Poet
File:Anne Oldfield from NPG.jpg	Anne Oldfield	1683	1730	47		Gravestone	Actress
File:Henry Spelman2.jpg	Henry Spelman	c.1564	1641	76–77		Gravestone	Antiquarian
File:Arthur Penrhyn Stanley by Lowes Cato Dickinson.jpg	Arthur P. Stanley	1815	1881	65	1884	Tomb and effigy	Author
File:Sybil Thorndike.jpg	Sybil Thorndike	1882	1976	93		Gravestone	Actress
File:Vaughan-Williams-by-Rothenstein.jpg	Ralph Vaughan Williams	1872	1958	86	1958	Floor stone	Composer
File:Isaac Watts from NPG.jpg	Isaac Watts	1674	1748	74	1779	Monument	Hymnodist
File:P.G. Wodehouse, 1930.jpg	P. G. Wodehouse	1881	1975	93	2019	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Humourist, novelist, lyricist, playwright

In literature

Poets' Corner is also the title of a play by James Huntrods,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and The Poets' Corner was a book of caricatures of famous poets by Max Beerbohm published in 1904.

External links

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