Conversely, many whose writings are still appreciated today have
never been memorialised in Poet’s Corner, although the reason may not
always be clear. Therefore a resting place or memorial in Poet’s Corner
should perhaps not be seen as a final statement of a writer or poet’s
literary worth, but more as a reflection of their public standing at the
time of death - or as an indication of the fickleness of Fate.
Some of the most famous to lie here, in addition to those detailed
on the next two pages include BenJonson, John Dryden, Alfred, Lord
Tennyson, Robert Browning and John Masefield, among the poets, and William
Camden, Dr Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray,
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy among the
writers.
Charles Dickens’s grave attracts particular interest. As a writer
who drew attention to the hardships born by the socially deprived and who
advocated the abolition of the slave trade, he won enduring fame and
gratitude and today, more than 110 years later, a wreath is still laid on
his tomb on the anniversary of his death each year.
Those who have memorials here, although they are buried elsewhere,
include among the poets John Milton, William Wordworth, Thomas Gray, John
Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Burns, William Blake, T.S. Eliot and
among the writers Samuel Butler, Jane Austen, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Walter
Scott, John Ruskin, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte and Henry James.
By no means all those buried in the South Transept are poets or
writers, however. Several of Westminster’s former Deans, Archdeacons,
Prebendaries and Canons lie here, as do John Keble, the historian Lord
Macaulay, actors David Garrick, Sir Henry Irving and Mrs Hannah Pritchard,
and, among many others, Thomas Parr, who was said to be 152 years of age
when he died in 1635, having seen ten sovereigns on the throne during his
long life.
CORONATIONS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Coronation have taken place at Westminster since at least 1066, when
William the Conqueror arrived in London after his victory at the battle of
Hastings. Whether or not Harold, his predecessor as monarch, had been
crowned in Edward the Confessor’s Abbey is uncertain - coronations do not
seem to have had a fixed location before 1066, though several monarchs
were crowned at Kingston-upon-Thames, where the King’s Stone still exists
- but William was determined to reinforce his victory, which gave him the
right to rule by conquest, with the sacred hallowing of his sovereignty
which the coronation ceremony would give him. He was crowned in the old
Abbey - then recently completed and housing Edward the Confessor’s body-
on Christmas Day 1066.
The service to-day has four parts: first comes the Introduction
,consisting of: the entry of the Sovereign into the Abbey; the formal
recognition of the right of the Sovereign to rule - when the Archbishop
presents the Sovereign to the congregation and asks them if they agree to
the service proceeding, and they respond with an assent; the oath, when
the Sovereign promises to respect and govern in accordance with the lows
of his or her subjects and to uphold the Protestant reformed Church of
England and Scotland; and the presentation of the Bible to the Sovereign,
to be relied on as the source of all wisdom and low. Secondly, the
Sovereign is anointed with holy oil, seated on the Coronation Chair.
Thirdly, the Sovereign is invested with the royal robes and insignia, then
crowned with St Edward’s crown. The final ceremony consists of the
enthronement of the Sovereign on a throne placed on a raised platform,
bringing him or her into full view of the assembled company for the first
time, and there he or she receives the homage of the Lords Spiritual, the
Lords Temporal and the congregation, representing the people of the realm.
The service has changed little - English replaced Latin as the main
language used during the ceremony following Elizabeth Ist coronation, and
from 1689 onwards the coronation ceremony has been set within a service of
Holy Communion although indeed this was a return to ancient custom rather
than the creation of a new precedent).
Coronations have not always followed an identical pattern. Edward
YI, for example, was crowned no less than three times, with three
different crowns placed in turn upon his head; while at Charles I’s
coronation there was a misunderstanding and, instead of the congregational
assent following the Recognition Question, there was dead silence, the
congregation having finally to be told to respond - an ill omen for the
future, as it turned out. Charles II’s coronation, following on the
greyness of the puritan Commonwealth, was a scene of brilliant colour and
great splendour. As the old regalia had been destroyed, replacements were
made for the ceremony, and the clergy were robed in rich red copes - the
same copes are still used in the Abbey
George IY saw his coronation as an opportunity for a great
theatrical spectacle and spent vast sums of money on it. He wore an auburn
wig with ringlets, with a huge plumed hat on top, and designed his own
robes for the procession into the Abbey. After the coronation, because
Queen Caroline had been forcibly excluded from the ceremony, the crowds in
the streets were extremely hostile to him and he had to return to Carlton
House by an alternative route.
In complete contrast, William IY took a lot of persuading before he
would agree to have a coronation at all, and the least possible amount
of money was spent no it - giving it the name the «penny coronation».
Despite his dislike of extravagant show and ceremony, he still brought a
slightly theatrical touch to the scene by living up to his nickname of the
«sailor king» and appearing , when disrobed for the Anointing, in the full-
dress uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet.
The last three coronations have demonstrated continuing respect
for the religious significance of the ceremony and recognition of the
importance of such a public declaration by Sovereign of his or her personal
dedication to the service of the people.
At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 , for the first time
the service was televised and millions of her subjects could see and hear
the ceremony taking place. It is possible that few watching realised just
how far back into history the roots of that historic ceremony starched, and
how little fundamental change had occurred over the centuries.
LIST OF WORDS
mention упоминание
stock хранилище
masterpiece шедевр
mankind человечество
satisfy удовлетворять
aesthetic эстетический
to be in touch with быть в контакте с
script рукопись
humdrum суета
acquire обретать
LIST OF WORDS
rank among быть в ряду с
tаke up поглощать
stretch простираться
arrangement расположение
fabulous сказочный
span миг, пролет
applied art прикладное искусство
enamel эмаль
lace кружево
ivory слоновая кость
excavation раскопки
scope размах
LIST OF WORDS
accessible доступный
merchant купец
purchase покупка
favourable благоприятный
due to the care благодаря заботе
fill up заполнять
gap пробел
deficiencies недостаток
accumulation накопление
at smb’s disposal в чьем-либо распоряжении
LIST OF WORDS
portraiture портретная
живопись
landscape пейзаж
potteryware фарфор
possess обладать
vanquish преодолевать
presumably вероятно
gain получать
vividness очевидность
merge граничить
ascribe приписывать
WORD OF LIST
reflect отражать
spirit дух
permanent постоянный
rapidly быстро
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