October 6

In literary history

• 1536William Tyndale was strangled and burned at Vilvoorde for translating the Bible into English. His last recorded words were 'Lord, open the King of England's eyes.' Within four years, Henry VIII issued an official English Bible built almost entirely on Tyndale's work.
• 1892Alfred, Lord Tennyson died at Aldworth with a volume of Shakespeare open at his finger and moonlight flooding the room. He had already instructed his son to place 'Crossing the Bar,' his poem about dying, at the end of every edition of his poems.

The Daily Canon for October 6

The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Tranströmer (1962).