The Problem with the Poet’s Corner

The Westminster Abbey has over a thousand years of history, and is the site of thousands of burials and monuments. The Poet’s Corner is dedicated to the artists, writers, actors, and musicians. The largest memorial in this area is dedicated to William Shakespeare, displaying a life-size full body statue of him leaning against a pile of books atop a column decorated with the faces of his characters. It immediately stood out to me as the most impressive part of the Abbey, as it did many others who lined up to take pictures next to the memorial. The rest of the memorials were tiny and bland in comparison, especially that of any women. The three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë) shared one incredibly small memorial shoved into the corner next to Shakespeare. A fun fact about this specific memorial, their last name was spelled wrong for 85 years. Only in 2024 was the typo “Bronte” fixed to “Brontë.” Although the sisters were all successful and influential poets and novelists of the 19th century, their memorial is completely overshadowed by the ones for men surrounding them. There is also something to be said about the shared memorial. They were separately successful individuals, but they are forever to be remembered as one to save space for the men. Although there is a memorial for Percy Bysshe Shelley in the Poet’s Corner, there is not one for Mary Shelley, arguably the more famous of the couple. Mary Shelley is still celebrated today, especially for Frankenstein, her most notable work. Meanwhile, I had never even heard of her husband. It is extremely disappointing to go to a section to celebrate the lives of the most significant artists of England, only to see half of them left out or shoved into a corner with their names misspelled.