Place    From 1559 

Poets' Corner

Categories: Literature

The popular name for the south transept of Westminster Abbey. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to be interred here, although it was for his position as Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westminster, rather than for literary merit. It wasn't until the burial of Edmund Spenser that the tradition began. The name was supposed to have been coined by Oliver Goldsmith. Nowadays occupants are commemorated with a wall or floor tablet rather than actual interment.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Poets' Corner

Commemorated ati

Robert Browning - W8

Robert Browning lived in this house 1887 - 1889, from here his body was taken...

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Other Subjects

Cyril Connolly

Cyril Connolly

Literary critic and writer.  Born Coventry and was brought up in South Africa and Ireland as well as England.  Educated, with George Orwell and Cecil Beaton, at a school in Eastbourne.  Edited Hori...

Person, Literature, Ireland, South Africa

1 memorial
Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett

Playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born Leeds.  First popular success was 'Beyond the Fringe' at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival, with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore.  Since then...

Person, Literature

2 memorials
A. J. P. Taylor

A. J. P. Taylor

Historian and broadcaster. Born Alan John Percivale Taylor in Birkdale, Lancashire. A lecturer in modern history at Manchester University and in international history at Oxford. His major works inc...

Person, History, Literature, TV & Radio

1 memorial
John Thelwall

John Thelwall

Orator, writer and elocutionist. Born in Covent Garden. It was as a political activist that he became well known. He was tried for treason and spent some time in the Tower of London and Newgate. He...

Person, Literature, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
George MacDonald

George MacDonald

Poet, novelist and Christian minister. Born Aberdeenshire. Works include: 'At the Back of the North Wind', 'Lilith'. Influenced: C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, W. H. Auden, Tolkien. Died at Ashtead...

Person, Literature, Poetry, Religion, Scotland

2 memorials