Poets' Corner

This article is about the section of Westminster Abbey. For the neighborhood of Berkeley, California, see List of Berkeley neighborhoods.

Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the south transept of Westminster Abbey in London, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated.

Poets' Corner

Memorials in Poets' Corner
Details
Established	1400
Location	Westminster Abbey
Country	London, England
Coordinates	51°29′57″N 0°7′38.50″W / 51.49917°N 0.1273611°W / 51.49917; -0.1273611Coordinates: 51°29′57″N 0°7′38.50″W / 51.49917°N 0.1273611°W / 51.49917; -0.1273611

The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400.^[1] 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.^[2] On 6 December 2011, former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was commemorated with a floor stone.^[3] On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone.^[4] The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016.^[5][6][7]

History

 

Partial view of Poets' Corner

 

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 magnificent 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 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!^[8]

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

While Butler, needy wretch, was yet alive,
No generous patron would a dinner give;
See him, when starv'd to death, and turn'd to dust,
Presented with a monumental bust.
The poet's fate is here in emblem shown,
He ask'd for bread, and he received a stone.

 

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 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 – Rowe and Gay) 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 (commissioned in 1939, but not unveiled until 1947 due to the 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.^[9]

 

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".^[10] The fact that he was buried in an upright grave could be an indication of his reduced circumstances at the time of his death^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13][14] 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.^[15]

Burials

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Details of funeral / memorial	Occupation
	Robert Adam	1729	1792	63	Grave & gravestone	Architect
	Isaac Barrow	1630	1677	46	Grave & marble memorial bust on a pedestal by John Bushnell^[16]	Mathematician
	Francis Beaumont	1584	1616	31–32	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Abraham Cowley gravestone.^[17]	Playwright
...	John Beaumont	1583	1627	43–44	Unmarked grave^[17]	Poet
...	William Benson	unknown	1549	unknown	Grave & memorial stone^[18]	Abbot of Westminster
	Mary Eleanor Bowes	1749	1800	51	Grave & gravestone. Reported by some to have been buried in a court dress, with all the accessories necessary for a Royal audience, plus a small silver trumpet, and by others as in her bridal dress.^[19]	Poet and playwright
	Robert Browning	1812	1889	77	Browning's grave & gravestone is immediately adjacent to that of Alfred, Lord Tennyson^[20]	Poet and playwright
	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.^[21]	Headmaster
	William Camden	1551	1623	72	Marble memorial bust with surround^[22]	Antiquarian and historian
	Thomas Campbell	1777	1844	66	Funeral 3 July 1844.^[23]; Statue by William Calder Marshall erected 1848^[24]	Poet
	Henry Francis Cary	1772	1844	72	Funeral 14 August 1844.^[25] Grave & gravestone in Poets' Corner^[26]	Author and translator
	Isaac Casaubon	1559	1614	55	Wall monument in black & white marble by sculptor Nicholas Stone^[27]	Classical scholar
	William Chambers	1723	1796	75	Grave & gravestone in South Transept^[28]	Architect
	Geoffrey Chaucer	c. 1343	1400	56–57	Actual grave site is now unmarked but his name is inscribed on the Cowley gravestone. A grey Purbeck marble memorial was erected in 1556.^[29]	Author and poet
	Abraham Cowley	1618	1667	48–49	White marble monument, of an urn on a pedestal, by John Bushnell^[30] Large black marble gravestone to which several further names have been added.	Poet
	Richard Cumberland	1732	1811	79	Grave & gravestone in South Transept^[31]	Playwright
	William Davenant	1606	1668	62	Grave & gravestone in South Transept^[32]	Poet and playwright
	John Denham	1614 or 1615	1669	63–65	Grave is unmarked. Name is inscribed on the Abraham Cowley gravestone.^[33]	Poet
	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.^[34]	Author
	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.^[35]	Poet
	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.^[36]	Poet and playwright
...	Adam Fox	1888	1977	93–94	Grave & gravestone in South Transept^[37]	Oxford Professor of Poetry Canon of Westminster Abbey
	David Garrick	1717	1779	61	Grave plus monument in white and grey marble by Henry Webber on the west wall of Poets' Corner^[38]	Playwright
	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^[39]	Poet and playwright
	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."^[40]	Poet and editor
	George Grote	1794	1871	76	Marble bust by Charles Bacon, 1873^[41]	Historian
	Richard Hakluyt	c.1552	1616	63–64	Unmarked grave thought to be in the South Transept^[42]	Author
	George Frideric Handel	1685	1759	74	Life-size sculpture by Louis-François Roubiliac with musical scores and instruments represented.^[43]^[44]	Composer
	Thomas Hardy	1840	1928	87	Hardy's funeral, on 16 January 1928, proved a controversial occasion because Hardy himself had wished to be interred at Stinsford in the same grave as his first wife, Emma. His executor Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, however, insisted that he be placed in the Poets' Corner. A compromise was reached whereby his heart was buried at Stinsford with Emma, and his ashes in the Abbey.	Author and poet
	Henry Irving	1838	1905	67	Grave & gravestone^[45]	Actor
	Samuel Johnson	1709	1784	75	Bust by Joseph Nollekens located above Johnson's grave^[46]	Author, poet and lexicographer
	Rudyard Kipling	1865	1936	70	Grave & gravestone^[47]	Author and poet
...	Nicholas Litlyngton	before 1315	1386	70+	Grave & memorial stone^[48]	Abbot of Westminster
	Thomas Macaulay	1800	1859	59	Public funeral, 9 January 1860, with a bust by the sculptor George Burnard erected in 1866.^[49]^[50]	Poet and historian
	James Macpherson	1736	1796	59	Grave & gravestone^[51]	Author and poet
	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
	Gilbert Murray	1866	1957	91	Grave & gravestone^[52]	Scholar and translator
	Laurence Olivier	1907	1989	82	Grave & memorial stone^[53]	Actor
	Old Tom Parr	1483	1635	152	Grave & gravestone^[54]	Supposedly long-lived Englishman
	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.^[55]	Poet and diplomat
	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^[56]	Playwright and poet
	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
	Richard Brinsley Sheridan	1751	1816	64	Grave & gravestone^[57]	Playwright and poet
	Robert South	1634	1716	81	Monument by Francis Bird^[58]	Theologian and poet
	Edmund Spenser	c. 1552	1599	46–47	Marble memorial erected in 1620 on south wall of Poets' Corner, fully restored 1778^[59]	Poet
...	Robert Stapylton	c.1607	1669	61–62	Unmarked grave in the South Transept^[60]	Playwright
...	Mary Steele	1678	1718	40	Grave and gravestone in South Transept^[61]	Letter writer
	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	1809	1892	83	Large public funeral, 12 October 1892.^[62] 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.^[63]	Poet
	Connop Thirlwall	1797	1875	78	Marble bust by sculptor Edward Davis^[64]	Bishop and historian
	Thomas Triplet	1602	1670	68	Marble memorial on west wall of South Transept^[65]	Prebendary
	Eva Marie Veigel	1724	1822	98	Buried with her husband David Garrick^[38]	Dancer

Memorials

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Year commemorated	Details of memorial	Occupation
	Joseph Addison	1672	1719	47	1809	Statue by Richard Westmacott	Poet and essayist
	Christopher Anstey	1724	1805	80	1807	Marble wall tablet^[66]	Poet and author
	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.^[67]	Poet
	Peggy Ashcroft	1907	1991	83	2005	Floor stone	Actress
	W. H. Auden	1907	1973	66	1974	Floor stone	Poet
	Jane Austen	1775	1817	41	1967	Wall tablet	Author
	John Betjeman	1906	1984	77	1996	Marble wall tablet^[68]	Poet and author
	William Blake	1757	1827	69	1957	Bronze memorial bust by Jacob Epstein, 1957^[69]	Poet and artist
...	Barton Booth	1681	1733	51–52	1772	Monument	Actor
	Charlotte Brontë	1816	1855	38	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
	Anne Brontë	1820	1849	29	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
	Emily Brontë	1818	1848	30	1947	Memorial tablet	Author
	Elizabeth Barrett Browning	1806	1861	55	1906	Inscription added to Robert Browning's gravestone in 1906^[20]	Poet
	Fanny Burney	1752	1840	87	2002	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Author and playwright
	Robert Burns	1759	1796	37	1885	Marble memorial bust by John Steell. Unveiled 7 March 1885 by the Earl of Rosebery.^[70]^[71]	Poet
	Samuel Butler	1612	1680	68	1721	Memorial bust thought to be by John Michael Rysbrack; Butler is buried at St Paul's, Covent Garden.^[72]	Poet
	Lord Byron	1788	1824	36	1969	Floor stone	Poet
	Cædmon	fl.657	fl.680	unknown	1966	Floor stone	Poet
	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.^[73]	Soldier and nobleman
	Lewis Carroll	1832	1898	65	1982	Floor stone	Author
	John Clare	1793	1864	70	1989	Floor stone	Poet
	Samuel Taylor Coleridge	1772	1834	61	1885	Memorial bust by Hamo Thornycroft^[74]	Poet
	George Eliot	1819	1880	61	1980	Floor stone	Author
	T. S. Eliot	1888	1965	76	1967	Floor stone	Poet and playwright
	David Frost	1939	2013	74	2014	Floor stone^[75]	Journalist, comedian, writer and media personality
	Elizabeth Gaskell	1810	1865	55	2010	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Novelist
	John Gielgud	1904	2000	96	2022	Floor stone	Actor and director
	Oliver Goldsmith	1728	1774	45	1776	Memorial tablet and bust	Poet and playwright
	Adam Lindsay Gordon	1833	1870	36	1934	Memorial bust by Kathleen Scott^[76]	Poet
	John Ernest Grabe	1666	1711	44–45	1727	Monument by Francis Bird on the west wall of Poets' Corner erected 1726^[77]	Priest and theologian
	Thomas Gray	1716	1771	54	1778	Monument	Poet and historian
	Stephen Hales	1677	1761	83	1761	Monument	Priest and scientist
	Robert Herrick	1591	1674	83	1994	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
	Gerard Manley Hopkins	1844	1889	44	1975	Floor stone	Poet
	A. E. Housman	1859	1936	77	1996	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
	Ted Hughes	1930	1998	68	2011	Floor stone at the foot of that for T. S. Eliot, one of his main influences	Poet
	Henry James	1843	1916	72	1976	Floor stone	Author
	Ben Jonson	1572	1637	65	1723	Memorial with portrait medallion and masks designed by James Gibbs and carved by John Michael Rysbrack.^[78]	Playwright and poet
	John Keats	1795	1821	25	1954	Mural tablet	Poet
	John Keble	1792	1866	73	1873	Bust by Thomas Woolner	Poet
	Charles Kingsley	1819	1875	55	1875	Bust by Thomas Woolner	Author
...	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.^[7]	Poet and novelist
	D. H. Lawrence	1885	1930	44	1985	Floor stone	Author and poet
	Edward Lear	1812	1888	75	1988	Floor stone	Author and poet
...	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."^[79]	Author
	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."^[80]	Opera singer
	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow	1807	1882	75	1884	Marble bust by Thomas Brock, unveiled 1 March 1884.^[81]^[82]	Poet
	F. W. Maitland	1850	1906	56	2001	Floor stone	Historian
	Christopher Marlowe (disputed portrait)	1564	1593	29	2002	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Playwright and poet
	William Mason	1724	1797	72–73	1799	Memorial, by John Bacon, in the east aisle of Poets' Corner	Poet
	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
	John Milton	1608	1674	65	1737	Monument	Poet and author
	John Philips	1676	1709	32	1710	Monument	Poet
	Alexander Pope	1688	1744	56	1994	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Poet
	John Pringle	1707	1782	74	...	Monument	Military physician
	Hannah Pritchard	1711	1768	56–57	...	Monument. Later moved to the triforium.	Actress
	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.^[83]	Poet and art critic
	Walter Scott	1771	1832	61	1897	Bust by the Scottish sculptor John Hutchison, "a beautifully executed copy of the famous Chantrey bust at Abbotsford".^[84]	Author and poet
	Thomas Shadwell	c.1642	1692	~50	c.1700	Monument	Poet and playwright
	William Shakespeare	1564	1616	52	1740	Statue with surround designed by William Kent and carved by Peter Scheemakers^[85]	Playwright and poet
	Granville Sharp	1735	1813	77	1816	Monument	Slavery abolitionist
	Percy Bysshe Shelley	1792	1822	29	1954	Mural tablet	Poet
	Robert Southey	1774	1843	68	1845	Marble memorial bust with surround by Henry Weekes^[86]	Poet
	William Makepeace Thackeray	1811	1863	52	1865	Marble bust by Carlo Marochetti^[87]	Author
	James Thomson	1700	1748	47	1762	Sculpture group designed by Robert Adam and carved by Michael Spring^[88]	Poet and playwright
	Dylan Thomas	1914	1953	39	1982	Floor stone	Poet and author
	Anthony Trollope	1815	1882	67	1993	Floor stone	Author
	William Vincent	1739	1815	76	c.1815^[89] 1	Monument	Dean of Westminster
	Oscar Wilde	1854	1900	46	1995	Panel on Hubbard memorial window	Playwright and author
	William Wordsworth	1770	1850	80	1854	Statue by Frederick Thrupp erected 1854.^[90]	Poet
	James Wyatt	1746	1813	67	...	Monument	Architect
	P. G. Wodehouse	1881	1975	93	2019	Stone plaque designed by Stephen Raw and carved by Annet Stirling, unveiled in the south choir aisle in 2019^[91]^[92]	Humourist, novelist, lyricist, playwright

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":^[93]

My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.

 

Poets of the First World War memorial

Image	Poet	Born	Died	Age when war started^[94]	Notes on war service	Notes on poetry
...	Richard Aldington	1892	1962	22	Enlisted 1916 Commissioned 1917 Second Lieutenant Royal Sussex Regiment	...
	Laurence Binyon	1869	1943	44	Volunteered in 1915 and 1916 Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois British hospital for French soldiers	...
	Edmund Blunden	1896	1974	17	Commissioned August 1915 Second Lieutenant Royal Sussex Regiment	...
	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	...
	Julian Grenfell ^†	1888	1915	26	Commissioned 1910 Captain (at time of death) Royal Dragoons	...
...	Ivor Gurney	1890	1937	23	Private Gloucestershire Regiment	...
	David Jones	1895	1974	18	Enlisted 1915 Private Royal Welch Fusiliers	...
	Robert Nichols	1893	1944	20	Commissioned 1914 Royal Artillery	...
	Wilfred Owen ^†	1893	1918	21	Enlisted 1915 Commissioned June 1916 Second Lieutenant Manchester Regiment	...
	Herbert Read	1893	1968	20	Captain Green Howards	...
	Isaac Rosenberg ^†	1890	1918	23	Enlisted October 1915 12th Suffolk Folk Regiment King's Own Royal Lancaster	...
	Siegfried Sassoon	1886	1967	27	Enlisted 1914 Commissioned May 1915 Captain (at end of war) Royal Welch Fusiliers	...
	Charles Sorley ^†	1895	1915	19	Enlisted 1914 Captain (at time of death) Suffolk Regiment	...
	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.

 

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	...
	Constant Lambert	1905	1951	45	...
	Margot Fonteyn	1919	1991	71	...

Elsewhere in the Abbey

Poets and writers commemorated elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, but not in Poets' Corner proper.^[95][96]

Image	Name	Born	Died	Age at death	Year commemorated	Details of memorial	Notes on artistic career
	Robert Ayton	1570	1638	67–68		Bronze bust with figures of Apollo and Athene in south anbulatory^[97]	Poet
	Aphra Behn	1640	1689	48		Gravestone	Author and playwright
	Edward Bulwer-Lytton	1803	1873	69		Gravestone	Author and poet
	John Bunyan	1628	1688	59	1912	Memorial window	Author
	Margaret Cavendish	1623	1673	69–70		Monument	Author and poet
	William Cavendish	1592	1676	84		Monument	Playwright and poet
	William Congreve	1670	1729	58	c.1730	Monument	Playwright and poet
	Noël Coward	1899	1973	73	1984	Floor stone	Playwright and composer
	William Cowper	1731	1800	68	1876	Memorial window	Poet and hymnodist
	Wentworth Dillon	1637	1685	47–48		Grave not marked	Poet
	Benjamin Disraeli	1804	1881	76	1884	Statue by Joseph Boehm	Author and politician
	George Herbert	1593	1633	39	1876	Memorial window	Poet and orator
	Robert Howard	1626	1698	72			Playwright
	James R. Lowell	1819	1891	72		Tablet and window	Poet
	Anne Oldfield	1683	1730	47		Gravestone	Actress
	Henry Spelman	c.1564	1641	76–77		Gravestone	Antiquarian
	Arthur P. Stanley	1815	1881	65	1884	Tomb and effigy	Author
	Sybil Thorndike	1882	1976	93		Gravestone	Actress
	Ralph Vaughan Williams	1872	1958	86	1958	Floor stone	Composer
	Isaac Watts	1674	1748	74	1779	Monument	Hymnodist

See also

Poets' Corner is also the title of a play by James Huntrods,^[98] and The Poets' Corner was a book of caricatures of famous poets by Max Beerbohm published in 1904.

Notes and references

1. Harold Bloom (2009). "Geoffrey Chaucer". p. 13. Infobase Publishing
2. "Elizabeth Gaskell". Westminster-abbey.org (25 September 2010). Retrieved on 21 October 2011.
3. Ted Hughes takes his place in Poets' Corner, BBC News, 6 December 2011
4. "CS Lewis honoured with Poets' Corner memorial". BBC News. Retrieved 23 November 2012
5. "Westminster Abbey honour for poet Philip Larkin". Westminster Abbey. June 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
6. Sawyer, Patrick (26 November 2016). "'Outsider' Larkin finally joins the Establishment in Poets' Corner". The Daily Telegraph.
7. "Westminster Poets' Corner memorial for Philip Larkin". BBC News. BBC. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
8. The Times, 26 March 1796, p. 3
9. A Service to Dedicate a Memorial to the Founders of the Royal Ballet, Westminster Abbey press release, November 2009, accessed 16 March 2010
10. . Westminster Abbey 1065 to today. Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
11. Adams, J. Q. The Jonson Allusion Book. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1922: 195–6.
12. Dunton, Larkin (1896). The World and Its People. Silver, Burdett. p. 34.
13. Abbey to honour Cranford's creator, Westminster Abbey press release, January 2010, accessed 15 March 2010
14. "Elizabeth Gaskell". Westminster Abbey.
15. "Oscar Wilde". Westminster Abbey. from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
16. "Isaac Barrow". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
17. "Francis and John Beaumont". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
18. "William Benson". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
19. "Mary Eleanor Bowes, Countess of Strathmore". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
20. "Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
21. "Richard Busby". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
22. "William Camden". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
23. The Times, 29 June 1844, p. 6; 4 July 1844, p. 5
24. "Thomas Campbell". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
25. The Times, 22 August 1844, p. 3
26. "Henry Francis Cary". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
27. "Isaac Casaubon". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
28. "Sir William Chambers". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
29. "Geoffrey Chaucer". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
30. "Abraham Cowley". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
31. "Richard Cumberland". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
32. "Sir William Davenant". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
33. "Sir John Denham". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
34. 'Funeral of Mr. Charles Dickens', The Times, 15 June 1870.
35. "Michael Drayton". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
36. "John Dryden". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
37. "Adam Fox". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
38. "David & Eva Garrick". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
39. "John Gay". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
40. The Times, 13 February 1827, p. 3
41. "Charles Bacon". A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
42. "Richard Hakluyt". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
43. "George Frederic Handel". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
44. "Monument to George Frederick Handel". The Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
45. "Sir Henry (Brodribb) Irving". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
46. "Samuel Johnson". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
47. "Rudyard Kipling". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
48. "Nicholas Litlyngton". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
49. The Times, 9 January 1860, p. 10; 10 January 1860, p. 9
50. "Thomas Babington Macaulay". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
51. "James Macpherson". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
52. "Gilbert Murray". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
53. "Laurence Olivier". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
54. "Thomas Parr". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
55. "Matthew Prior". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
56. "Nicholas Rowe". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
57. "Richard Brinsley Sheridan". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
58. "Robert South". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
59. "Edmund Spenser". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
60. "Sir Robert Stapylton". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
61. "Dame Mary Steele". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
62. The Times, 13 October 1892
63. "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
64. "Connop Thirlwall". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
65. "Thomas Triplet". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
66. "Christopher Anstey". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
67. "Thomas and Matthew Arnold". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
68. "Sir John Betjeman". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
69. "William Blake". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
70. The Times, 9 March 1885
71. "Robert Burns". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
72. "Samuel Butler". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
73. "John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
74. "Samuel Taylor Coleridge". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
75. "Sir David Frost's memorial at Westminster's Poets' Corner". BBC News. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
76. "Adam Lindsay Gordon". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
77. "John Ernest Grabe". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
78. "Ben Jonson". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
79. A service to dedicate a memorial to C. S. Lewis, writer, scholar, apologist. Westminster Abbey. 2013.
80. The Times, 21 April 1894
81. The Times, 2 November 1992, p. 6; 26 February 1884, p. 10; 3 March 1884, p. 8
82. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
83. Sydney C. Cockerell letter to The Times, 22 August 1900; The Times, 7 February 1902, p. 9; 10 February 1902, p. 8
84. The Times, 22 May 1897, p. 16
85. "William Shakespeare". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
86. "Robert Southey". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
87. "William Makepeace Thackeray". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
88. "James Thomson". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
89. "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
90. "William Wordsworth". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
91. "PG Wodehouse commemorated with Westminster Abbey plaque". Financial Times. 20 September 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
92. "P.G Wodehouse". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
93. Poets of the Great War 22 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Brigham Young University, accessed 14 March 2010
94. The date used here is 4 August 1914, the date Britain entered the war.
95. Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey (James Wilkinson, 2007), inside back page
96. Treasures of Westminster Abbey (Tony Trowles, 2008)
97. "Robert Ayton". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
98. "Two 4-star reviews for Poets' Corner".

External links

•   Media related to Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey at Wikimedia Commons