Walking Among Legends

From the moment I learned that I was going to London, I had one thing at the top of my bucket list: lay flowers on Aphra Behn’s grave. Having started this blog to commemorate a journey for the spirit of women writers, this moment of homage for the first professional female writer gave me an intense feeling of solidarity that could never have been found anywhere else. In the beloved Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf wrote about Aphra Behn, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she—shady and amorous as she was—who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to you tonight:  Earn five hundred a year by your wits.” Though she was critiqued for breaking through gender lines (some even considered her like a prostitute for pursuing her opinions and professions as she did), she is the reason that I am able to write these words today. That moment at her grave, seeing the shiny black marble for the first time, is forever burned into my memory. Sadly, it was just another grave on the walkway, with people treading on it right in front of our eyes. As a matter of fact, by the time we came back to that spot two hours later, only a few shreds of the bouquet I had left there remained. This seemed poetically appropriate, though. Kick away my flowers all you want, you irreverent tourists:  I will still celebrate my women writers and become one myself someday.

 We were not allowed to take picture inside the actual Abbey, only on the outside courtyard. We couldn’t get a lot of the photos that we wanted, but I’ll sum up some of the highlights.

Westminster has existed since monks came to the site in the tenth century and was made famous by Edward the Confessor. It is the final resting place of hundreds of famous people. Some of the most fantastic tombs take up a whole wall; some of the most outstanding were Isaac Newton, Edward himself, Queen Elizabeth I, and other monarchs. The most incredible section for us English majors was “Poet’s Corner,” where memorials and graves were congregated, all of which celebrated our most beloved literary legends. Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, W.H. Auden, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, the six big romantic poets (Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Byron, and Blake), and more all dwelled in one area. I was scurrying around like a mother hen trying not to step on anyone’s plaque on the floor, all the while shooting daggers at those who just pranced right on top of CHARLES DICKENS. It was a very surreal feeling. The moment spent in that corner felt like standing among a host of angels in literature heaven.

We also saw the star on the floor marking the ashes of Sir Laurence Olivier, the icon of the theatre world, whose notable achievement (aside from his successful acting career) was becoming the first director of the National Theatre in Britain. Other noteworthy actors’ memorials there were Ben Johnson and Sir Henry Irving. The interesting story about Johnson told by our tour guide was that his goal was to be buried in Westminster, though he could not afford the price tag attached to that dream. In order to achieve this, he requested to be buried vertically rather than horizontally to save space and reduce the cost! He and Irving (ashes, not the body) were both buried in Poet’s Corner. Irving was notable for being the first actor to become knighted and famously managed the Lyceum Theatre. Shakespeare also has a memorial there, though we had already seen his actual grave at Statford-Upon-Avon. There are numerous other actors that reside in Westminster, although we didn’t get a chance to see them all. Here are a few others:  Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Thomas Betterton, David Garrick, Hannah Pritchard, Dame Sybil Thorndike, etc. 

Fun Fact: Westminster doesn't just have ancient legends; they also have old doors.

 More information and some background info in this article from http://www.westminster-abbey.org/home, http://www.freemasonry.london.museum/showcase/sir-henry-irving-1838-1905/, http://www.laurenceolivier.com/index.php