Poets' Corner

• 1. The Clerk Who Started It All

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  Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400 and was buried within the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. His interment there owed more to his job as Clerk of Works for the Palace of Westminster than to his literary fame. The area now known as Poets' Corner began with this specific burial event. A grey Purbeck marble memorial was erected over his grave site in 1556 by Nicholas Brigham. This monument transferred Chaucer's remains to a new location where they remain today. Edmund Spenser followed him into the same space in 1599. Their proximity established a tradition that continues to the present day.

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• 2. From Floor Stones To Glass Windows

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  Memorials evolved from simple stone slabs set into the floor to elaborate monuments and busts. Some names appear on wall tablets while others occupy hanging stone plaques. Space eventually became so limited that authorities installed a stained glass window in 1994. Edward Horton Hubbard received the first pane in this new format. The window holds room for twenty names but currently displays only six entries. Elizabeth Gaskell received the latest addition when her panel was unveiled on the 25th of September 2010. Ceremonies often feature guest speakers who read extracts from the honored writer's work. Sir John Gielgud and Dame Judi Dench attended the 1995 unveiling for Oscar Wilde.

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• 3. Scandalous Lives And Secret Funerals

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  Charles Dickens died in 1870 and requested no grand funeral ceremony. His will dictated a secret early-morning burial inside the Abbey on the 14th of June 1870. Thomas Hardy faced controversy regarding his final resting place after death in 1928. He wanted interment at Stinsford with his first wife Emma. His executor Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell insisted on Poets' Corner instead. A compromise placed Hardy's heart at Stinsford while his ashes rested in the Abbey. Lord Byron maintained a scandalous lifestyle yet did not receive a memorial until 1969 despite dying in 1824. Samuel Horsley once refused to bury actress Kitty Clive claiming it would turn Westminster Abbey into a Gothic Green Room.

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• 4. The Slate Slab Of The Great War

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  A slate stone slab commemorates sixteen poets who died during World War One. It was unveiled on the 11th of November 1985 marking the sixty-seventh anniversary of the Armistice. Names inscribed on the slab include Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke among others. An additional quote from Owen's Preface appears alongside the list of names. Some poets like Julian Grenfell died in action while others survived but never saw active service. Richard Aldington enlisted in 1916 and became a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment. Edward Thomas joined the Artists Rifles before being commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1916.

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• 5. Beyond Poetry Into Dance And Drama

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  Recent decades have expanded eligibility beyond traditional writers to include actors and dancers. Four founders of the Royal Ballet received a joint floor stone dedication on the 17th of November 2009. Ninette de Valois lived to be one hundred and two years old while Frederick Ashton reached eighty-four. Margot Fonteyn died in 1991 after a long career as a principal dancer. Constant Lambert contributed significantly to ballet music before his death in 1951. Actors like Laurence Olivier and Peggy Ashcroft now share space with literary giants. David Frost received a floor stone in 2014 despite being primarily known as a journalist and comedian.

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