The series of windows could only be appropriately concluded by one great name, "the protagonist on the great arena of modern poetry, and the glory of the human intellect" (De Quincey).
The Shakespeare window was presented by Sir Frederick Wigan, Bart., in memory of his brother-in-law, Arthur Cecil Blunt. It is a triplet, and displays in its central light an allegorical figure of "Poetry," supported by Shakespeare and Spenser in the lights on either hand. Above the Muse the sacred Dove is hovering, symbolical of the divine inspiration which we may presume guided the poets in their work, and at the base is a quotation from Wisdom, viii, 4 (Vulgate): "Doctrix disciplinae Dei, et electrix operum illius."
The faces of Edmund Shakespeare[25] and A.C. Blunt are introduced in the quatrefoils of the heading, the former as buried in the church, the latter the gentleman commemorated by the donor.
William Shakespeare is known to have lived near the old Bear Garden and his own theatre, "The Globe," in Southwark, where his brother Edmund also lived while trying his fortune on the stage. The immortal name has, therefore, a direct association with St. Saviour's Church and parish, entitling it to the special memorial.
The Choir was erected by Peter de Rupibus in the early part of the thirteenth century. In its more mature and elaborate work it shows a considerable advance on the simplest form of Early English, though the apparently low elevation, and massiveness of the piers and lower arcading, are obviously not free from Norman influences. It is divided into five bays by alternate circular and octagonal piers, the dwarfed appearance of which is relieved by triple vaulting shafts on the north and south sides, and single shafts to support the arch mouldings. The central shafts are not of Purbeck, as in the nave, and they are not banded, except where crossed by the abacus moulding of the capitals and the triforium string-course. The piers have all plain capitals and well cut base mouldings. The triforium arcade, like that in the nave, consists of four arched openings in each bay, and, unlike the clerestory, has no continuous passage along the choir wall. Each bay, however, has an opening at the back into the space between the vault and roof of the aisle.
While both sides of the choir are alike in their main features, there is an interesting difference in detail, especially to be noticed in the greater simplicity of the south side, where the triforium capitals are less elaborate, and the dog-tooth ornament is omitted from the outer jambs of the openings.
On the south side, moreover, the arches have corbels, with sculptured heads, to support their inner mouldings, in place of the full-length shafts which occur on the responds at the ends, and on all the piers of the opposite side. These differences, though perhaps partly referable to the delightful vagaries of Gothic architecture, are supposed to have a special significance at St. Saviour's, where the north was the side of the Prior.
Photo. G.P. Heisch.