Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey: Who Is Buried There

Short answer: Poets’ Corner is the south transept of Westminster Abbey, where more than 100 poets and writers are buried or have memorials. It began with Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Buried there are Chaucer, Spenser, Dickens, Tennyson, Browning, Hardy (his ashes) and Kipling (his ashes). Shakespeare and Jane Austen have memorials only: Shakespeare is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon and Austen in Winchester Cathedral.

The name is shared with other places, including streets and bookshops. This guide is about the one in Westminster Abbey in London.

How it began with Chaucer

Poets’ Corner began by accident. Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, died on 25 October 1400 and was buried in the Abbey, at the entrance to the chapel of St Benedict in the south transept. The Abbey is clear that he was buried there not because he was a poet but because he was Clerk of the King’s Works, a royal official.

The tradition came later. In 1556 Nicholas Brigham put up a grander tomb for Chaucer and his remains were moved into it. In 1599 Edmund Spenser, author of The Faerie Queene, was buried nearby; he had asked to lie near Chaucer. Writers have followed ever since. Wikipedia notes that the name “Poets’ Corner” first appeared in print only in 1733.

Today the Deans of Westminster decide who receives a place. The Abbey says they decide on merit, though they consult widely.

Who is buried here

These writers are buried in or beside Poets’ Corner, according to the Abbey’s pages and Wikipedia:

Writer	Burial
Geoffrey Chaucer	Buried 1400; moved to his present tomb in 1556
Edmund Spenser	Buried 1599, near Chaucer
Samuel Johnson	Died 1784; a bust by Joseph Nollekens stands above his grave
Charles Dickens	Buried 14 June 1870 after a private early-morning funeral
Robert Browning	Died 1889; his grave is next to Tennyson’s
Alfred, Lord Tennyson	Buried October 1892, between John Dryden and Robert Browning, in front of Chaucer’s monument
Thomas Hardy	Ashes interred 16 January 1928; his heart is buried at Stinsford, Dorset
Rudyard Kipling	Ashes interred 1936

One near miss: Ben Jonson is buried in the Abbey, but upright in the north aisle of the nave, not in Poets’ Corner. Poets’ Corner has a wall tablet to him.

The transept is not only for writers. The Abbey notes that it also holds clergymen, actors and the composer George Frideric Handel. Nine Poets Laureate are buried or memorialised here.

Who is only remembered: Shakespeare and Austen

Many of the best-known names in Poets’ Corner are memorials, not graves.

• William Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. His Abbey memorial was designed by William Kent and carved by Peter Scheemakers, and dates from 29 January 1741 (1740 in Old Style dating).
• Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral. Her memorial tablet in Poets’ Corner was unveiled on 17 December 1967.
• Lord Byron received a memorial in 1969, 145 years after his death.

If someone tells you Shakespeare is buried in Westminster Abbey, they are mixing up a memorial with a grave.

The newest memorials

Poets’ Corner is still growing. Recent additions, all memorials, include:

• Elizabeth Gaskell: a panel in the Hubbard window, unveiled 25 September 2010.
• Ted Hughes: a floor stone, 2011.
• C. S. Lewis: a floor stone, dedicated 22 November 2013.
• Philip Larkin: a floor stone, 2016.

Where it is and how long to allow

Poets’ Corner is in the south transept, the right-hand arm of the church as you face the high altar. Poets’ Corner proper is the eastern aisle of that transept, but graves and memorials now spread across the whole transept.

It is on the standard sightseeing route, so any Abbey ticket includes it, and the multimedia guide covers it. The verger-led tours also include it. It is not open as a separate free visit: services are free but do not include sightseeing. The Abbey suggests 1.5 to 2 hours for the main highlights of a visit, Poets’ Corner among them.

The Westminster Abbey entrance ticket costs $43 with free cancellation up to 24 hours before. If you want a guide who can tell the writers’ stories in front of their stones, book a guided tour of the Abbey from $100. For everyone else buried in the church, see who is buried in Westminster Abbey.