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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Today's excuse to read a little poetry: it's Lord Alfred Tennyson's birthday 🎈 We're celebrating with an extract of The Palace of Art - which of his poems is your favourite?

A photograph of Lord Alfred Tennyson. He is a white man, with a long beard that appears to be graying at the end. He is wearing a suit and is sat in a chair reading a book.

A page from a book fo poems by Lord Alfred Tennyson. This shows a black and sepia toned illustration of inside a castle or fortress, focusing particularly on a woman playing an organ on a wooden bridge. She is leaning back and being kissed on the forehead by a man in a large cloak. In the foreground, you can see an armed soldier with a helmet and spear eating an apple, and to his right is a seagull. In the background, you can see soldiers defending the castle from the turets, loading canons, and lots of ships out at sea. Text below the illustration reads: The Palace of Art (which is the title of the poem), and the first stanza: 'I built my soul a lordly pleasure-house, Wherein at ease for aye to dwell. I said, "O Soul, make merry and carouse, Dear soul, for all is well."

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Matthew Rowlinson @matthewrowlinson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Forgive the pedantry, but it’s correctly “Alfred, Lord Tennyson.” Lord Alfred Tennyson would be the younger son of a peer, like Lord Alfred Douglas.

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