Susan and I went to Westminster Abbey yesterday. This was a first for both of us, as the first time that I was in London in ’99, with my friend Jen, we didn’t really end up with enough time to do more than walk past the outside of the Abbey.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any cool pictures of it because, like so many magnificient churches and cathedrals, photographs were prohibited. Plus, we forgot and left our camera at home. sigh
Like its other ecclesiastical architectural brethren, Westminster Abbey is an astounding monument to human creativity. It’s older, and therefore smaller, than many of the other great churches and cathedrals (e.g., St. Paul’s in London, St. Peter’s in Rome, or the Dom in Cologne). Combined with the profusion of monuments, tombs, and burials there, it feels much closer and more crowded than those awesome spaces. But, because it is the focus of the Anglican church and is the centerpiece of the interaction between church and government in Britain, it has received plenty of funding over the centuries and is beautifully maintained and breathtakingly decorated.
What really caught my attention, though, was the array of burials and monuments to the intellectual greats of the past seven hundred years. Mostly British, but a few even from beyond the shores.
Many of us have heard of Poet’s Corner, the wing of Westminster Abbey where some of the greatest poets and authors of the English language are buried or commemorated. My father’s litany of the Canon of English Literature (at least, as taught at UC Berkeley in the late ’60s) was: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, & Spenser. I was a bit surprised to find out that Donne has no memorial at Westminster (his is apparently at St. Paul’s), but the rest of that list were certainly there. Along with Longfellow, T.S. Eliot, Mary Ann Evans/George Eliot, the Brontes, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Dylan Thomas, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Jane Austen, Lord Byron,… The list goes on. It was an impressive and touching display. Even a couple of musicians and actors snuck in (Handle and Lawrence Olivier). And, of course, my personal favorite: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll).
But what gets talked about somewhat less is the number of other great intellectuals who are buried or commemorated at Westminster Abbey. I was particularly excited by the profusion of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. James Watt, William Herschel, Edmond Halley. Newton’s memorial is large and gold filigreed, picturing the sphere of the heavens hanging above him. Darwin’s tomb was surprisingly unpretentious — a simple slab of black granite with his name and dates on it. No memorial text or inscriptions. Dirac’s memorial features his famous equation.
At heart, I feel that the works these people leave behind to us are their greatest monuments. Their works and ideas changed society — how we think about each other and the world around us. They have opened up new vistas for growth and exploration. I expect that many of their creations and thoughts will outlive Westminster Abbey itself. So, at some level, I think that physical monuments to them are almost superfluous. And certainly, being an Atheist, I don’t feel a specific drive to commemorate great people at churches.
Yet, still, as I wandered among the tombs and monuments, I couldn’t help but be touched. It is powerful that society recognizes the importance of these people enough to commemorate them in a place that it considers significant. It is a reminder and a tribute that, perhaps, is less important than their creations themselves, but is still a mark of society’s regard.
Unfortunately, we got there later in the day than we had really intended to, so we didn’t have as much time to explore as we would have liked. Plus, the Abbey closes to tourists at 2:30 on Saturdays in preparation for a 3:00 evensong service. (Susan stayed for the service while I explored London; she reports that it was fabulous.) But the free (i.e., included in the price of admission) audio-guide tour was actually very nicely done and quite informative, and we learned a great deal about the Abbey and its history in the short time we were able to spend there. We did have enough time to admire the Gothic architecture, the fantastic stained glass, and the elaborate stonework, as well as to trek around some to find the tombs and monuments of a spectrum of leading lights. So altogether, we had a really enjoyable and educational time.
Oh, and it turns out that there are some other people buried there too.