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

Baker Street Irregulars

Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars is a literary society dedicated to the study of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the Victorian world.  It is the oldest existing Sherlockian soci...

Group, Community / Clubs, History, Literature

2 memorials
Dr Samuel Johnson

Dr Samuel Johnson

Essayist, biographer, lexicographer and speaker of quotes. Born Lichfield, Staffordshire. Left home and travelled to London with David Garrick. "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; f...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

14 memorials
Lytton Strachey

Lytton Strachey

Critic and biographer. Born Giles Lytton Strachey.  At Cambridge he joined The Apostles.  Was a prominent conscientious objector in WW1.

Person, Literature

2 memorials
Gavin Maxwell

Gavin Maxwell

Author and Naturalist. Born at House of Elrig, Mochrum, Wigtownshire. During World War II he served as an instructor with the Special Operations Executive. In 1956 he toured the reed marshes of Sou...

Person, Animals, Literature, Iraq, Scotland

1 memorial
Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Poet and story writer. Born: Bombay, India. Died: London. See Waterloo Free Buffet. 2021: The Guardian reported some updates to English Heritage's information on Kipling: "While his children’s sto...

Person, Literature, Poetry, Race Issues, Seriously Famous, India

2 memorials