The poet John
Dryden died in Gerrard Street in Soho in 1700. He became the first
official Poet
Laureate
in 1668 succeeding Sir William D'Avenant. He had to relinquish the
post in 1688 during the Glorious
Revolution and in 1689 Thomas Shadwell took over the post. He
is buried in Westminster
Abbey.
John
Dryden
Glorious Revolution
Famous
people buried at Westminster Abbey
Poets
laureate
The
poet Nahum
Tate
died in London in 1715 and is buried in St
Paul's Cathedral. In 1692 he had succeed Thomas Shadwell as Poet
Laureate
and he was himself succseeded by Nicholas Rowe.
Famous
people buried at St Paul's Cathedral
Poets
laureate
The
author of the first gothic novel The Castle of Otranto and
son of the the first "Prime Minister" Robert Walpole, Horace
Walpole was born at Arlington Street in 1717. He died at his
home in Berkeley Square in 1797 and is buried with his father at Houghton
Hall near New Houghton in Norfolk.
Horace
Walpole
In
1718 the poet Nicholas
Rowe
who had only succeeded Nahum Tate as Poet
Laureate
in 1715 died in London. He is buried in Westminster
Abbey and was succeeded by Laurence Eusden.
Nicholas
Rowe
Famous
people buried at Westminster Abbey
Poets
laureate
In
1745 the poet Henry James Pye was
born in London. He succeeded Thomas Warton in 1790 as Poet
Laureate
and
on his death in Pinner in 1813 he was succeeded by Robert Southey.
Henry
James Pye
Poets
laureate
In
1757 the artist and poet William
Blake was born in Soho. He died in London in 1827. He is buried
at Bunhill
Fields in Finsbury.
William
Blake
Famous
London cemeteries

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
A
Poison Tree (1794)
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
Auguries
of Innocence (1803)
The
pioneering feminist and writer Mary
Wollstonecraft, was born in Spitalfields in 1759. She wrote A
Vindication of the Rights of Women. She died in London in 1797
shortly after giving birth to her daughter Mary Godwin, the later
Mary Shelley. She is buried with her daughter and husband, the philosopher
William Godwin, in Bournemouth, Hampshire.
Mary
Wollstonecraft
Mary
Wollstonecraft

I do not wish them (women) to have power over men; but over themselves.
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
A slavish bondage to parents cramps every
faculty of the mind.
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)
The
writer Samuel
Johnson,
better known as Dr Johnson, died at his house in London in 1784.
He
is buried in Westminster
Abbey. From 1748-59 Johnson had lived at 17
Gough Square near Fleet Street and it was while living here that
he compiled his famous dictionary of the English language.
Samuel
Johnson
Famous
people buried at Westminster Abbey

A man, doubtful of his dinner, or trembling
at a creditor, is not much disposed to abstracted meditation, or remote
enquiries.
Lives of the English Poets (1779-81)
The
poet William Whitehead died in London
in 1785. He had succeeded Colley Cibber as Poet
Laureate
in 1757 and would be succeeded by Thomas Warton.
William
Whitehead
Poets
laureate
Lord
Byron was born in Holles Street off Oxford Street in London in
1788.
Lord
Byron

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss.
When
we two parted (1816)
He thought about himself, and the whole earth,
Of man the wonderful, and of the stars,
And how the deuce they ever could have birth;
And then he thought of earthquakes, and of wars,
How many miles the moon might have in girth,
Of air-balloons, and of the many bars
To perfect knowledge of the boundless skies;
And then he thought of Donna Julia's eyes.
Don Juan (1819-24)
John
Keats was born in London in 1795. From 1818 he lived at Wentworth
Place in Hampstead until 1820 when he left for Italy
to try and alleviate his tuberculosis.
John
Keats
John Keats website

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Endymion
(1818)
And she forgot the stars, the moon, and sun,
And she forgot the blue above the trees,
And she forgot the dells where waters run,
And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze;
Isabella (1820)
The
author of Frankenstein and wife of the poet Percy Shelley,
Mary
Shelley was born as Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797.
Her parents were the writer and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the
philosopher William Godwin. She died at her home at 24 Chester Square,
Westminster in 1851 and is buried with her parents in Bournemouth,
Hampshire.
Mary
Shelley

|