"The Palace of Art"
re-imagined

Introduction:

The isolated scenes described in four-line stanzas in “The Palace of Art” expand into worlds of their own creation when read in the context of the allusions they make and the artwork the poem itself influenced. The eternal tension between the world of art and the realities of the world, which lies at the heart of “The Palace of Art,” is both exemplified and complicated by Tennyson's encapsulated mood-meditations. An exploration of the poem's influence in the decades following its publication reveals a web of intertwining themes and the styles that bind them together.

Click here to read the full introduction.

Navigating the site:

Each stanza from Tennyson's "The Palace of Art" to the right links to its corresponding page. The navigation bar below allows for a sequential tour through the rooms.

< Start Page | First >

Full of great rooms and small the palace stood,
All various, each a perfect whole
From living Nature, fit for every mood
And change of my still soul.

For some were hung with arras green and blue,
Showing a gaudy summer-morn,
Where with puff'd cheek the belted hunter blew
His wreathed bugle-horn.

 
And one, the reapers at their sultry toil.
In front they bound the sheaves. Behind
Were realms of upland, prodigal in oil,
And hoary to the wind.
And one a foreground black with stones and slags,
beyond, a line of heights, and higher
All barr'd with long white cloud the scornful crags,
And highest, snow and fire.
And one, an English home — gray twilight pour'd
On dewy pastures, dewy trees,
Softer than sleep — all things in order stored,
A haunt of ancient Peace.

Conclusion

Bibliography