Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey embodies hundreds of years of British history. Many of Britain's most important leaders--in all fields--are buried here. Ms. Reimer and I visited Westminster Abbey together, both awestruck at the lives and deaths chronicled inside.

Since 1066, the coronation of British monarchs has occurred at Westminster Abbey. The same coronation chair has been used since 1308. Elizabeth I, Shakespeare's Queen, underwent her coronation here on January 15, 1559. Elizabeth's final resting place is also in the Abbey. Westminster Abbey's website explains, "Her death was an occasion of universal mourning. Thousands of people turned out to see her funeral procession to the Abbey on 28 April 1603. John Stow, who attended the funeral, wrote: 'Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man.'" Elizabeth shares her grave with her half-sister Mary Tudor; Mary is also buried beneath the monument to Elizabeth.

While Shakespeare's grave is in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, there is an impressive memorial in Westminster Abbey. In a portion of the Abbey deemed "Poets' Corner" stands a life-size white marble statue of Shakespeare resting one arm on a stack of untitled books. With his other hand he gestures to a scroll bearing lines from The Tempest:

The Cloud capt Tow’rs,
The Gorgeous Palaces,
The Solemn Temples,
The Great Globe itself,Yea all which it Inherit,
Shall Dissolve; And like the baseless Fabrick of a Vision Leave not a wreck behind.

Poets Corner holds a particular beauty for English teachers -- sweeping my eyes across the floors and the walls, I saw many of the names I've come to revere and adore -- Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy, and Charles Dickens are among the writers buried here.

Moreover, memorials have been constructed to numerous other poets, playwrights, and writers: John Milton, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Percy Shelley, William Blake, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas, Oscar, Wilde, and the list goes on. A memorial to Elizabeth Barrett Browning adorns the grave of her husband Robert.

Monuments and memorials cover the walls and floors of Poets' Corner, so much so that no more can be built. Now, the Abbey dedicates panes of glass in the stunning stained glass windows of Poets' Corner to Britain's artists. Such a memorial was given to Christopher Marlowe in 2002, about 500 years after his death.

Photos and videos are not allowed within the Abbey, however after seeing several other tourists taking pictures, Ms. Reimer and I very quickly and quietly brought out our flip cameras:

Be sure to visit Westminster Abbey's website to explore its hallowed treasures and the graves, monuments, and memorials of the giants of English history -- you may be amazed at who rests in the Abbey:
Westminster Abbey
Monuments and Gravestones
Elizabeth I
William Shakespeare