In-depth
At first, Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of the famous medieval Canterbury Tales was buried in the Abbey’s South Transept, yet to be known as ‘Poets’ Corner’. But in Elizabethan times a new tomb was put in place for Chaucer to elevate his status as the first great writer of literature in the English language. Similarly in Elizabethan times, Edmund Spenser the author of The Faerie Queene was laid to rest nearby to Chaucer. From then on a tradition was launched that many of the great poets could be buried here. In terms of the playwrights of the Shakespearean London theatres, this includes Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, Michael Drayton and William Davenant. William Shakespeare was buried in 1616 in his home town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, but in 1740 a monument was placed to Shakespeare in Poets’ Corner. Furthermore, in 1742 a bust of Shakespeare with accompanying inscription by Peter Scheemakers was installed. This featured a speech from The Tempest that had been modified by leading eighteenth century poet Alexander Pope.