Poets’ Corner: The Politics of Commemoration
Abstract:
This talk explores Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner, the preeminent site at which Britain’s literary heritage has been curated or manufactured since at least the sixteenth century. It sketches aspects of the history of Poets’ Corner, pointing to some of the ways in which it has sponsored an imperial project, and analysing the politics that have shaped the interments and commemorations there, before finally exposing some of its most significant gaps.
About the Speaker:
Matthew Beaumont is a Professor of English at UCL and a Co-Director of UCL’s Urban Lab. He is the author of several books, including a loosely conceived trilogy consisting of Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London (2015, reissued 2025), The Walker: On Finding and Losing Yourself in the Modern City (2020) and, most recently, How We Walk: Frantz Fanon and the Politics of the Body (2024). He is currently writing London: A Writers’ City for Cambridge University Press.
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This page was last updated on 25 March 2025
