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

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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

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows

Written by Kenneth Grahame, much of it based on a series of letters to he wrote to his son.  First published October 1908.

Fiction, Fictional, Literature

1 memorial
Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf

Born as Adeline Virginia Stephen in Hyde Park Gate, London. Drowned herself in the River Ouse Rodmell, Sussex by filling pockets with stones. Virginia and Leonard Woolf lived at no. 52 Tavistock S...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous

9 memorials
The Sign of Four

The Sign of Four

The second of the Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally called the Sign of The Four, it has a complex plot involving the East India Company, the Indian Rebellion of 1...

Fiction, Literature

1 memorial
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Novelist. Born in Salem, Massachusetts. His ancestor was John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel added a 'w' to his name in ord...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous, USA

1 memorial
Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Novelist. Born New York City as Herman Melvill. After 7 years as a seaman on whaling ships 1837 - 44 he began writing about his experiences and in 1851 published Moby Call-me-Ishmael Dick.  In that...

Person, Literature, Seriously Famous, USA

1 memorial

Previously viewed

BRA

BRA

Westminster City Council informs us that this acronym stands for 'Bayswater Residents Association', but we are unable to find anything that distinguishes it from SEBRA.

Group, Community / Clubs

1 memorial
Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Film director. Born at 517 Leytonstone High Road above his father William’s greengrocery and poultry shop. See Spitalfields Life for an unusual take on his life in Leytonstone. When Alfie was about...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous

23 memorials