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158-432: The Earthly Paradise by William Morris is an epic poem . It is a lengthy collection of retellings of various myths and legends from Greece and Scandinavia. Publication began in 1868 and several later volumes followed until 1870. The volumes were published by F.S. Ellis . Morris uses a frame story concerning a group of medieval wanderers searching for a land of everlasting life. After much disillusionment they discover

316-685: A 13-episode poem, The Pilgrims of Hope , which was set in the period of the Paris Commune. From November 1886 to January 1887, Morris's novel A Dream of John Ball was serialised in Commonweal . Set in Kent during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, it contained strong socialist themes, although it proved popular among those of different ideological viewpoints, resulting in its publication in book form by Reeves and Turner in 1888. Shortly after,

474-662: A biblical manner of clothing and hair style. The movement was originally formed in 1809 by six students at the Vienna Academy and called the Brotherhood of St. Luke or Lukasbund, after the patron saint of medieval artists. In 1810 four of them, Johann Friedrich Overbeck , Franz Pforr , Ludwig Vogel and Johann Konrad Hottinger moved to Rome , where they occupied the abandoned monastery of San Isidoro and were joined by Philipp Veit , Peter von Cornelius , Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld , Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow and

632-500: A book of Morris's poems, The Defence of Guenevere , which was largely self-funded by the author. It did not sell well and garnered few reviews, most of which were unsympathetic. Disconcerted, Morris would not publish again for a further eight years. In October 1857 Morris met Jane Burden , a woman from a poor working-class background, at a theatre performance. Rossetti initially asked her to model for him. Controversially both Rossetti and Morris were smitten with her; Morris, however, began

790-476: A child, Morris was kept largely housebound at Elm House by his mother; there, he spent much time reading, favouring the novels of Walter Scott . Aged 6, Morris moved with his family to the Georgian Italianate mansion at Woodford Hall , Woodford, Essex , which was surrounded by 50 acres of land adjacent to Epping Forest . He took an interest in fishing with his brothers as well as gardening in

948-591: A close friend. Morris soon relocated to Street's London office, in August 1856 moving into a flat in Bloomsbury in Central London with Burne-Jones, an area perhaps chosen for its avant-garde associations. Morris was fascinated by London but dismayed at its pollution and rapid expansion into neighbouring countryside, describing it as "the spreading sore". William Morris became increasingly fascinated with

1106-410: A collection of Morris's essays, Signs of Change , was published. Our business [...] is the making of Socialists, i.e. convincing people that Socialism is good for them and is possible. When we have enough people of that way of thinking, they will find out what action is necessary for putting their principles in practice. Therefore, I say, make Socialists. We Socialists can do nothing else that

1264-399: A company of Norsemen who have fled the pestilence and set sail to seek the fabled Earthly Paradise "across the western sea where none grow old." Not having succeeded in their quest, they have returned "shrivelled, bent, and grey," after lengthy wanderings abroad, to a "nameless city in a distant sea" where the worship of the ancient Greek gods has not died out. In this hospitable city they spend

1422-549: A correspondence and occasional visits, although she found him extremely paranoid and was upset by his addiction to chloral . She last saw him in 1881, and he died in April the following year. Morris described his mixed feelings toward his deceased friend by stating that he had "some of the very greatest qualities of genius, most of them indeed; what a great man he would have been but for the arrogant misanthropy which marred his work, and killed him before his time". In August 1883, Janey

1580-581: A dragon is used to conjure up the time pictorially. The Romantic interest in the medieval can particularly be seen in the illustrations of English poet William Blake and the Ossian cycle published by Scottish poet James Macpherson in 1762, which inspired both Goethe 's Götz von Berlichingen (1773), and the young Walter Scott . The latter's Waverley Novels , including Ivanhoe (1819) and Quentin Durward (1823) helped popularise, and shape views of,

1738-593: A greater appreciation of the country than he had on his previous trip. In April 1879 Morris moved the family home again, this time renting an 18th-century mansion on Hammersmith 's Upper Mall in West London that was owned by the novelist George MacDonald . Morris named it Kelmscott House and re-decorated it according to his own taste. In the House's grounds he set up a workshop, focusing on the production of hand-knotted carpets. Excited that both of his homes were along

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1896-474: A house outside London where his children could spend time away from the city's pollution. He settled on Kelmscott Manor in the village of Kelmscott , Oxfordshire , obtaining a joint tenancy on the building with Rossetti in June. Morris adored the building, which was constructed circa 1570, and would spend much time in the local countryside. In contrast, Rossetti was unhappy at Kelmscott, and eventually suffered

2054-700: A lease on the seven-acre former silk weaving factory, the Merton Abbey Works , next to the River Wandle on the High Street at Merton , Southwest London (not to be confused with the adjacent Merton Abbey Mills , home of the Liberty Print Works.) After he moved his workshops to the site, the premises were used for weaving, dyeing, and creating stained glass; within three years, 100 craftsmen were employed there. Working conditions at

2212-434: A loose grouping of other German artists. They met up with Austrian romantic landscape artist Joseph Anton Koch (1768–1839) who became an unofficial tutor to the group and in 1827 they were joined by Joseph von Führich (1800–76). In Rome the group lived a semi-monastic existence, as a way of re-creating the nature of the medieval artist's workshop. Religious subjects dominated their output and two major commissions for

2370-707: A mental breakdown. Morris divided his time between London and Kelmscott, however when Rossetti was there he would not spend more than three days at a time at the latter. He became fed up with his family home in Queen Square, deciding to obtain a new house in London. Although retaining a personal bedroom and study at Queen Square, he relocated his family to Horrington House in Turnham Green Road, West London, in January 1873. This allowed him to be far closer to

2528-549: A nineteenth-century genre of medieval poetry that included Idylls of the King (1842) by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson and "The Sword of Kingship" (1866) by Thomas Westwood, which recast specifically modern themes in the medieval settings of Arthurian romance. Depictions of the Middle Ages can be found in different cultural media, including advertising. Film has been one of the most significant creators of images of

2686-507: A number of household servants. Meanwhile, changes were afoot at the Firm as Faulkner left, and to replace him they employed a business manager, Warrington Taylor, who would remain with them till 1866. Taylor pulled the Firm's finances into order and spent much time controlling Morris and ensuring that he worked to schedule. During these years the Firm carried out a number of high-profile designs; from September 1866 to January 1867, they redecorated

2844-605: A period contrary to reason and contrary to the spirit of the Enlightenment. For them the Middle Ages was barbaric and priest-ridden. They referred to "these dark times", "the centuries of ignorance", and "the uncouth centuries". The Protestant critique of the Medieval Church was taken into Enlightenment thinking by works including Edward Gibbon 's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776–89). Voltaire

3002-572: A portrait by establishment painter George Frederic Watts . Morris was keenly interested in Icelandic literature, having befriended the Icelandic theologian Eiríkur Magnússon . Together they produced prose translations of the Eddas and Sagas for publication in English. Morris also developed a keen interest in creating handwritten illuminated manuscripts, producing 18 such books between 1870 and 1875,

3160-553: A rally against military intervention. Morris eventually became disillusioned with the EQA, describing it as being "full of wretched little personalities". He nevertheless joined a regrouping of predominantly working-class EQA activists, the National Liberal League , becoming their treasurer in summer 1879; the group remained small and politically ineffective, with Morris resigning as treasurer in late 1881, shortly before

3318-501: A regular at the socialist International Club in Shoreditch , East London , however he avoided the recently created Fabian Society , deeming it too middle-class. Although a Marxist, he befriended prominent anarchist activists Stepniak and Peter Kropotkin , and came to be influenced by their anarchist views, to the extent that biographer Fiona MacCarthy described his approach as being "Marxism with visionary libertarianism". As

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3476-572: A relationship with her and they were engaged in spring 1858; Burden would later admit that she had never loved Morris. They were married in a low-key ceremony held at St Michael at the North Gate church in Oxford on 26 April 1859, before honeymooning in Bruges , Belgium, and settling temporarily at 41 Great Ormond Street, London. Morris desired a new home for himself and his daughters resulting in

3634-429: A result, sales increased and its popularity grew. By 1880, Morris & Co. had become a household name, having become very popular with Britain's upper and middle classes. The Firm was obtaining increasing numbers of commissions from aristocrats, wealthy industrialists, and provincial entrepreneurs, with Morris furnishing parts of St James's Palace and the chapel at Eaton Hall . As a result of his growing sympathy for

3792-548: A sense of movement; none of his paintings are dated later than 1862. Instead he focused his energies on designing wallpaper patterns, the first being "Trellis", designed in 1862. His designs were produced from 1864 by Jeffrey and Co. of Islington , who created them for the Firm under Morris's supervision. Morris retained an active interest in various groups, joining the Hogarth Club , the Mediaeval Society, and

3950-547: A shared attitude to life, both being keenly interested in Anglo-Catholicism and Arthurianism . Through Burne-Jones, Morris joined a group of undergraduates from Birmingham who were studying at Pembroke College : William Fulford (1831–1882), Richard Watson Dixon , Charles Faulkner , and Cormell Price . They were known among themselves as the "Brotherhood" and to historians as the Birmingham Set . Morris

4108-471: A strong socialist movement; calling on activists to boycott elections, he hoped that socialists would take part in a proletariat revolution and help to establish a socialist society . Bax taught Morris more about Marxism , and introduced him to Marx's collaborator, Friedrich Engels ; Engels thought Morris honest but lacking in practical skills to aid the proletarian revolution. Morris remained in contact with other sectors of London's leftist community, being

4266-462: A surviving colony of Greeks with whom they exchange stories. The poem is divided into twelve sections, each section representing a month of the year and containing two tales told in verse, drawn largely from classical mythology or mediaeval legends, including the Icelandic sagas . All Morris's subsequent books were published as "by the author of The Earthly Paradise ". The prologue introduces

4424-562: A term describing the post-modern study of medieval history and as a term for a trend in modern international relations , first discussed in 1977 by Hedley Bull , who argued that society was moving towards a form of "neomedievalism" in which individual notions of rights and a growing sense of a "world common good" were undermining national sovereignty . Leslie J. Workman , Kathleen Verduin and David Metzger noted in their introduction to Studies in Medievalism IX "Medievalism and

4582-605: A traumatic miscarriage and an addiction to laudanum ; she would die of an overdose in February 1862. In April 1861, Morris founded a decorative arts company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. , with six other partners: Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Faulkner, and Peter Paul Marshall . Operating from premises at No. 6 Red Lion Square , they referred to themselves as "the Firm" and were intent on adopting Ruskin's ideas of reforming British attitudes to production. They hoped to reinstate decoration as one of

4740-535: Is Enough , a poetic drama based on a story in the Medieval Welsh text, the Mabinogion . Illustrated with Burne-Jones woodcuts, it was not a popular success. By 1871, he had begun work on a novel set in the present, The Novel on Blue Paper , which was about a love triangle; it would remain unfinished and Morris later asserted that it was not well written. By early summer 1871, Morris began to search for

4898-664: Is a part of the study of the Middle Ages as a historical period. Monagle explains how in 1977 the International Relations scholar Hedley Bull coined the term " New Medievalism " to describe the world as a result of the rising powers of non-state actors in society (such as terrorist groups, corporations, or supra-state organisations such as the European Economic Community) which, due to new technologies, boundaries of jurisdiction that cross national borders, and shifts in private wealth challenged

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5056-772: Is a trifling evil compared with the inequality of classes." Morris and Burne-Jones then spent time with one of the Firm's patrons, the wealthy George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle and his wife Rosalind, at their Medieval home in Naworth Castle , Cumberland . In July 1874, the Morris family then took Burne-Jones's two children with them on their holiday to Bruges , Belgium. However, by this point Morris's friendship with Rossetti had seriously eroded, and in July 1874 their acrimonious falling out led Rossetti to leave Kelmscott, with Morris's publisher F.S. Ellis taking his place. With

5214-421: Is an example of seven-line rhyme royal (with rhyme scheme ABABBCC). O love, this morn when the sweet nightingale Had so long finished all he had to say, That thou hadst slept, and sleep had told his tale; And midst a peaceful dream had stolen away In fragrant dawning of the first of May, Didst thou see aught? didst thou hear voices sing Ere to the risen sun the bells 'gan ring? The Earthly Paradise

5372-514: Is recognised as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain . He was best known in his lifetime as a poet, although he posthumously became better known for his designs. The William Morris Society founded in 1955 is devoted to his legacy, while multiple biographies and studies of his work have been published. Many of the buildings associated with his life are open to visitors, much of his work can be found in art galleries and museums, and his designs are still in production. Morris

5530-524: Is unknown if their affair was ever sexual, although by this point other members of the group were noticing Rossetti and Janey's closeness. Imagining the creation of an artistic community at Upton, Morris helped develop plans for a second house to be constructed adjacent to Red House in which Burne-Jones could live with his family; the plans were abandoned when Burne-Jones's son Christopher died from scarlet fever . By 1864, Morris had become increasingly tired of life at Red House, being particularly unhappy with

5688-426: Is useful." — William Morris From January to October 1890, Morris serialised his novel News from Nowhere in Commonweal , resulting in improved circulation for the paper. In March 1891 it was published in book form, before being translated into Dutch, French, Swedish, German and Italian by 1900 and becoming a classic among Europe's socialist community. Combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction ,

5846-764: The British Houses of Parliament in the 1840s. Large numbers of existing English churches had features such as crosses , screens and stained glass ( removed at the Reformation), restored or added, and most new Anglican and Catholic churches were built in the Gothic style. Viollet-le-Duc was a leading figure in the movement in France, restoring the entire walled city of Carcassonne as well as Notre-Dame and Sainte Chapelle in Paris. In America Ralph Adams Cram

6004-476: The Golden Fleece . In contrast to Morris's former publication, The Life and Death of Jason was well received, resulting in the publishers paying Morris a fee for the second edition. From 1865 to 1870, Morris worked on another epic poem, The Earthly Paradise . Designed as a homage to Chaucer, it consisted of 24 stories, adopted from an array of different cultures, and each by a different narrator; set in

6162-574: The Houses of Parliament intrinsically corrupt and capitalist. Personal issues between Morris and Hyndman were exacerbated by their attitude to British foreign policy; Morris was staunchly anti-imperialist while Hyndman expressed patriotic sentiment encouraging some foreign intervention. The division between the two groups developed into open conflict, with the majority of members sharing Morris's position. In December 1884 Morris and his supporters – most notably Ernest Belfort Bax and Edward Aveling – left

6320-548: The Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. decorative arts firm with Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, and others, which became highly fashionable and much in demand. The firm profoundly influenced interior decoration throughout the Victorian period , with Morris designing tapestries, wallpaper, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows. In 1875, he assumed total control of the company, which was renamed Morris & Co. Morris rented

6478-465: The Oxford Movement , which has been defined as "medievalism in religion." Ruskin connected the quality of a nation's architecture with its spiritual health, comparing the originality and freedom of medieval art with the mechanistic sterility of modernism in such works as Modern Painters , Volume II (1846), The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones of Venice (1851–3). At

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6636-514: The Reformations of the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants generally followed the critical views expressed by Renaissance Humanists, but for additional reasons. They saw classical antiquity as a golden time, not only because of Latin literature, but because it was the early beginnings of Christianity. The intervening 1000 year Middle Age was a time of darkness, not only because of lack of secular Latin literature, but because of corruption within

6794-490: The classical styles prevalent at the time. In England, the epicentre of this revival, it was intertwined with deeply philosophical movements associated with a re-awakening of "High Church" or Anglo-Catholic self-belief (and by the Catholic convert Augustus Welby Pugin ) concerned by the growth of religious nonconformism. He went on to produce important Gothic buildings such as Cathedrals at Birmingham and Southwark and

6952-433: The "most remarkable fruit in English literature of the medieval revival", the modern workhouse is contrasted with the medieval monastery. He draws on Jocelyn de Brakelond 's twelfth-century account of Samson of Tottington 's abbotcy of Bury St Edmunds Abbey to answer the " Condition-of-England Question ", calling for a " Chivalry of Labour" based on cooperation and fraternity rather than competition and "Cash-payment for

7110-458: The 1330s, Petrarch expressed the view that European culture had stagnated and drifted into what he called the " Dark Ages " , since the fall of Rome in the fifth century, owing to among other things, the loss of many classical Latin texts and to the corruption of the language in contemporary discourse. Scholars of the Renaissance believed that they lived in a new age that broke free of

7268-655: The 1880s Morris became a committed revolutionary socialist activist until his final acceptance of parliamentary socialism at 1896. He founded the Socialist League in 1884 after an involvement in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), but he broke with that organisation in 1890. In 1891, he founded the Kelmscott Press to publish limited-edition, illuminated -style print books, a cause to which he devoted his final years. Morris

7426-832: The 1970s saw the discipline of medievalism become an academic area of research in its own right, with the International Society for the Study of Medievalism formalised in 1979 with the publication of its Studies In Medievalism journal, organised by Leslie J. Workman. D'Arcens notes that by 2016 medievalism was taught as a subject on "hundreds" of university courses around the world, and there were "at least two" scholarly journals dedicated to medievalism studies: Studies in Medievalism and postmedieval . Clare Monagle has argued that political medievalism has caused medieval scholars to repeatedly reconsider whether medievalism

7584-471: The 3 to 4 hours spent commuting to his London workplace on a daily basis. He sold Red House, and in autumn 1865 moved with his family to No. 26 Queen Square in Bloomsbury, the same building to which the Firm had moved its base of operations earlier in the summer. At Queen Square, the Morris family lived in a flat directly above the Firm's shop. They were joined by Janey's sister Elizabeth Burden and

7742-452: The Abbey were better than at most Victorian factories. However, despite Morris's ideals, there was little opportunity for the workers to display their own individual creativity. Morris had initiated a system of profit sharing among the Firm's upper clerks, however this did not include the majority of workers, who were instead employed on a piecework basis. Morris was aware that, in retaining

7900-917: The Academy, Vol I" (1997) their sense that medievalism had been perceived by some medievalists as a "poor and somewhat whimsical relation of (presumably more serious) medieval studies ". In The Cambridge Companion to Medievalism (2016), editor Louise D'Arcens noted that some of the earliest medievalism scholarship (that is, study of the phenomenon of medievalism) was by Victorian specialists including Alice Chandler (with her monograph A Dream of Order: The Medieval Ideal in Nineteenth Century England (London: Taylor and Francis, 1971), and Florence Boos, with her edited volume History and Community: Essays in Victorian Medievalism (London: Garland Publishing, 1992)). D'Arcens proposed that

8058-831: The Armoury and Tapestry Room in St James's Palace , in the latter year also designing the Green Dining Room at the South Kensington Museum (it is now the Morris Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum). The Firm's work received increasing interest from people in the United States, resulting in Morris's acquaintance with Henry James and Charles Eliot Norton . However, despite its success,

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8216-579: The British socialist movement grew it faced increased opposition from the establishment, with police frequently arresting and intimidating activists. To combat this, the League joined a Defence Club with other socialist groups, including the SDF, for which Morris was appointed treasurer. Morris was passionate in denouncing the "bullying and hectoring" that he felt socialists faced from the police, and on one occasion

8374-725: The Casa Bartholdy (1816–17) (later moved to the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin) and the Casino Massimo (1817–29), allowed them to attempt a revival of the medieval art of fresco painting and gained then international attention. However, by 1830 all except Overbeck had returned to Germany and the group had disbanded. Many Nazareners became influential teachers in German art academies and were a major influence on

8532-661: The Church such as Popes who ruled as kings, pagan superstitions with saints' relics , celibate priesthood, and institutionalized moral hypocrisy. Most Protestant historians did not date the beginnings of the modern era from the Renaissance, but later, from the beginnings of the Reformation. In the Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Middle Ages was seen as an "Age of Faith" when religion reigned, and thus as

8690-681: The Corps of Artist Volunteers, the latter in contrast to his later pacifism. Meanwhile, Morris's family continued to grow. In January 1861, Morris and Janey's first daughter was born: named Jane Alice Morris , she was commonly known as "Jenny". Jenny was followed in March 1862 by the birth of their second daughter, Mary "May" Morris . Morris was a caring father to his daughters, and years later they both recounted having idyllic childhoods. However, there were problems in Morris's marriage as Janey became increasingly close to Rossetti, who often painted her. It

8848-623: The Devon Great Consols, selling his remaining shares in the company. Now in complete control of the Firm, Morris took an increased interest in the process of textile dyeing and entered into a co-operative agreement with Thomas Wardle , a silk dyer who operated the Hencroft Works in Leek, Staffordshire . As a result, Morris would spend time with Wardle at his home on various occasions between summer 1875 and spring 1878. Deeming

9006-399: The Earthly Paradise, set sail to find it". Morris's "wanderers" reach "A nameless city in a distant sea / White as the changing walls of faërie", where they hear and narrate legends including "The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon"; Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales II contains one of the legendarium's foundation-poems that similarly describes the "Wanderer" Earendel , who sails "West of

9164-461: The Firm included furniture, architectural carving, metalwork, stained glass windows, and murals. Their stained glass windows proved a particular success in the firm's early years as they were in high demand for the surge in the Neo-Gothic construction and refurbishment of churches, many of which were commissioned by the architect George Frederick Bodley . Despite Morris's anti-elitist ethos, the Firm soon became increasingly popular and fashionable with

9322-445: The Firm was not turning over a large net profit, and this, coupled with the decreasing value of Morris's stocks, meant that he had to decrease his spending. Janey's relationship with Rossetti had continued, and by the late 1860s gossip regarding their affair had spread about London, where they were regularly seen spending time together. Morris biographer Fiona MacCarthy argued that it was likely that Morris had learned of and accepted

9480-427: The Hall's grounds, and spent much time exploring the Forest, where he was fascinated both by the Iron Age earthworks at Loughton Camp and Ambresbury Banks and by the Early Modern Hunting Lodge at Chingford . He also took rides through the Essex countryside on his pony, and visited the various churches and cathedrals throughout the country, marveling at their architecture. His father took him on visits outside of

9638-590: The House was nevertheless unique, with Morris describing it as "very mediaeval in spirit". Situated within an orchard, the house and garden were intricately linked in their design. It took a year to construct, and cost Morris £4000 at a time when his fortune was greatly reduced by a dramatic fall in the price of his shares. Burne-Jones described it as "the beautifullest place on Earth." After construction, Morris invited friends to visit, most notably Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana , as well as Rossetti and his wife Lizzie Siddal . They aided him in painting murals on

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9796-490: The Middle Ages since the early twentieth century. The first medieval film was also one of the earliest films ever made, about Jeanne d'Arc in 1899, while the first to deal with Robin Hood dates to as early as 1908. Influential European films, often with a nationalist agenda, included the German Nibelungenlied (1924), Eisenstein 's Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Bergman 's The Seventh Seal (1957), while in France there were many Joan of Arc sequels. Hollywood adopted

9954-502: The Middle Ages". The term has no clear definition but has since been used to describe the intersection between popular fantasy and medieval history as can be seen in computer games such as MMORPGs , films and television , neo-medieval music , and popular literature . It is in this area—the study of the intersection between contemporary representation and past inspiration(s)—that medievalism and neomedievalism tend to be used interchangeably. Neomedievalism has also been used as

10112-405: The Middle Ages. The same imagery would be used in Nazi Germany in the mid-twentieth century to promote German national identity with plans for extensive building in the medieval style and attempts to revive the virtues of the Teutonic knights , Charlemagne and the Round Table . In England, the Middle Ages were trumpeted as the birthplace of democracy because of the Magna Carta of 1215. In

10270-400: The Moon, east of the Sun". William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer , poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement . He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish

10428-446: The President of the Althing , Jón Sigurðsson , with Morris being sympathetic to the Icelandic independence movement . From there, they proceeded by Icelandic horse along the south coast to Bergþórshvoll , Þórsmörk , Geysir , Þingvellir , and then back to Reykjavík, where they departed back to Britain in September. In April 1873, Morris and Burne-Jones holidayed in Italy, visiting Florence and Siena . Although generally disliking

10586-505: The Reformation as having divided a once-unified and wealthy England into "masters and slaves, a very few enjoying the extreme of luxury, and millions doomed to the extreme of misery", while decrying how "this land of meat and beef was changed, all of a sudden into a land of dry bread and oatmeal porridge". In the Victorian era , the principal representatives of this school were Thomas Carlyle and his disciple John Ruskin . In Carlyle's Past and Present (1843), which Oliver Elton called

10744-507: The SDF; the first major schism of the British socialist movement. In December 1884, Morris founded the Socialist League (SL) with other SDF defectors. He composed the SL's manifesto with Bax, describing their position as that of "Revolutionary International Socialism", advocating proletarian internationalism and world revolution while rejecting the concept of socialism in one country . In this, he committed himself to "making Socialists" by educating, organising, and agitating to establish

10902-507: The United States was held in Boston in 1897 and local societies spread across the country, dedicated to preserving and perfecting disappearing craft and beautifying house interiors. Whereas the Gothic revival had tended to emulate ecclesiastical and military architecture, the arts and crafts movement looked to rustic and vernacular medieval housing. The creation of aesthetically pleasing and affordable furnishings proved highly influential on subsequent artistic and architectural developments. By

11060-448: The Utopian News from Nowhere (1890), and the fantasy romance The Well at the World's End (1896). In 1877, he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to campaign against the damage caused by architectural restoration. By the influence of medievalism and Christian socialism in the 1850s he became an skeptical of industrial capitalism, after reading works of Henry George , Alfred Russel Wallace , and Karl Marx in

11218-513: The abolition of national debt, nationalisation of land, banks, and railways, and the organisation of agriculture and industry under state control and co-operative principles. Some of his DF comrades found it difficult to reconcile his socialist values with his position as proprietor of the Firm, although he was widely admired as a man of integrity. The DF began publishing a weekly newspaper, Justice , which soon faced financial losses that Morris covered. Morris also regularly contributed articles to

11376-469: The architectural Gothic Revival and classical Romanticism gave rise to the Gothic novel , often dealing with dark themes in human nature against medieval backdrops and with elements of the supernatural. Beginning with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford , it also included Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein (1818) and John Polidori 's The Vampyre (1819), which helped found

11534-535: The art of a group of painters who had emerged in London in 1848 calling themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . The Pre-Raphaelite style was heavily Medievalist and Romanticist, emphasising abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions; it greatly impressed Morris and the Set. Influenced both by Ruskin and by John Keats , Morris began to spend more time writing poetry, in a style that

11692-606: The artists Arthur Hughes , Thomas Woolner , and Ford Madox Brown . Tired of architecture, Morris abandoned his apprenticeship, with Rossetti persuading him to take up painting instead, which he chose to do in the Pre-Raphaelite style. Morris aided Rossetti and Burne-Jones in painting the Arthurian murals at the Oxford Union , although his contributions were widely deemed inferior and unskilled compared to those of

11850-428: The birth of two girls, Emma in 1829 and Henrietta in 1833, before William's birth. These children were followed by the birth of siblings Stanley in 1837, Rendall in 1839, Arthur in 1840, Isabella in 1842, Edgar in 1844, and Alice in 1846. The Morris family were followers of the evangelical Protestant form of Christianity, and William was baptised four months after his birth at St Mary's Church, Walthamstow . As

12008-470: The book tells the tale of a contemporary socialist, William Guest, who falls asleep and awakens in the early 21st century, discovering a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production . In this society there is no private property , no big cities, no authority, no monetary system, no divorce, no courts, no prisons, and no class systems; it was a depiction of Morris's ideal socialist society. Medievalism In

12166-530: The bourgeoisie, particularly following their exhibit at the 1862 International Exhibition in South Kensington , where they received press attention and medals of commendation. However, they faced much opposition from established design companies, particularly those belonging to the Neo-Classical school. Morris was slowly abandoning lithography and painting, recognising that his work lacked

12324-470: The brain". Instead he preferred the writings of William Cobbett and Sergius Stepniak , although he also read the critique of socialism produced by John Stuart Mill . In May 1883, Morris was appointed to the DF's executive committee, and was soon elected to the position of treasurer. Devoting himself to the socialist cause, he regularly lectured at meetings across Britain, hoping to gain more converts, although

12482-435: The cause, of Morris's circle of artistic comrades, only Webb and Faulkner fully embraced socialism, while Swinburne expressed his sympathy with it. In 1884 the DF renamed itself the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and underwent an internal reorganisation. However, the group was facing an internal schism between those (such as Hyndman), who argued for a parliamentary path toward socialism, and those (like Morris) who deemed

12640-767: The centre-left Liberal Party who opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli 's alliance with the Ottoman Empire ; the Association highlighted the Ottoman massacre of Bulgarians and feared that the alliance would lead Disraeli to join the Ottomans in going to war with the Russian Empire . Morris took an active role in the EQA campaign, authoring the lyrics for the song "Wake, London Lads!" to be sung at

12798-473: The clergy. On a subsequent visit to Birmingham, Morris discovered Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur , which became a core Arthurian text for him and Burne-Jones. In January 1856, the Set began publication of The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine , designed to contain "mainly Tales, Poetry, friendly critiques and social articles". Funded mainly by Morris, who briefly served as editor and heavily contributed to it with his own stories, poems, reviews and articles,

12956-410: The colours to be of inferior quality, Morris rejected the chemical aniline dyes which were then predominant, instead emphasising the revival of organic dyes, such as indigo for blue, walnut shells and roots for brown, and cochineal , kermes , and madder for red. Living and working in this industrial environment, he gained a personal understanding of production and the lives of the proletariat, and

13114-540: The company's other partners drifting off to work on other projects, Morris decided to consolidate his own control of the Firm and become sole proprietor and manager. In March 1875, he paid £1000 each in compensation to Rossetti, Brown, and Marshall, although the other partners waived their claims to financial compensation. That month, the Firm was officially disbanded and replaced by Morris & Co , although Burne-Jones and Webb would continue to produce designs for it in future. This accomplished, he resigned his directorship of

13272-413: The confines of population growth, urban sprawl and industrialism, embracing the exotic, unfamiliar and distant. The name "Romanticism" itself was derived from the medieval genre chivalric romance . This movement contributed to the strong influence of such romances, disproportionate to their actual showing among medieval literature, on the image of Middle Ages, such that a knight, a distressed damsel, and

13430-638: The construction of the Red House in the Kentish hamlet of Upton near Bexleyheath , ten miles from central London. The building's design was a co-operative effort, with Morris focusing on the interiors and the exterior being designed by Webb, for whom the House represented his first commission as an independent architect. Named after the red bricks and red tiles from which it was constructed, Red House rejected architectural norms by being L-shaped. Influenced by various forms of contemporary Neo-Gothic architecture,

13588-496: The country, Morris was interested in the Florentine Gothic architecture. Soon after, in July, Morris returned to Iceland, revisiting many of the sites he had previously seen, but then proceeding north to Vatna glacier and Fljótsdalur . His two visits to the country profoundly influenced him, in particular in his growing leftist opinions; he would comment that these trips made him realise that "the most grinding poverty

13746-565: The county, for instance to Canterbury Cathedral , the Chiswick Horticultural Gardens, and to the Isle of Wight , where he adored Blackgang Chine . Aged 9, he was then sent to Misses Arundale's Academy for Young Gentlemen, a nearby preparatory school; although initially riding there by pony each day, he later began boarding, intensely disliking the experience. In 1847, Morris's father died unexpectedly. From this point,

13904-634: The course of the River Thames , in August 1880 he and his family took a boat trip along the river from Kelmscott House to Kelmscott Manor. Morris became politically active in this period, coming to be associated with the radicalist current within British liberalism . He joined the Eastern Question Association (EQA) and was appointed the group's treasurer in November 1876. EQA had been founded by campaigners associated with

14062-417: The decline described by Petrarch. Historians Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo developed a three tier outline of history composed of Ancient , Medieval, and Modern . The Latin term media tempestas (middle time) first appears in 1469. The term medium aevum (Middle Ages) is first recorded in 1604. "Medieval" first appears in the nineteenth century and is an Anglicised form of medium aevum . During

14220-533: The division between employer and employed, the company failed to live up to his own egalitarian ideals, but he defended this, asserting that it was impossible to run a socialist company within a competitive capitalist economy. The Firm itself was expanding, opening up a store in Manchester in 1883 and holding a stand at that year's Foreign Fair in Boston . Janey's relationship with Rossetti had continued through

14378-735: The eighteenth century in Western Europe , and gained strength during and after the Industrial and French Revolutions . It was partly a revolt against the political norms of the Age of Enlightenment which rationalised nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature. Romanticism has been seen as "the revival of the life and thought of the Middle Ages", reaching beyond rational and Classicist models to elevate medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to be authentically medieval, in an attempt to escape

14536-577: The exclusive authority of the state. Monagle explained that in 2007 medieval scholar Bruce Holsinger published Neomedievalism, Conservativism and the War on Terror , which identified how George W. Bush 's administration relied on medievalising rhetoric to identify al-Qaeda as "dangerously fluid, elusive, and stateless". Monagle documents how Gabrielle Spiegel , then president of the American Historical Society "expressed concern at

14694-451: The existence of their affair by 1870. In this year he developed an affectionate friendship with Aglaia Coronio, the daughter of wealthy Greek refugees, although there is no evidence that they had an affair. Meanwhile, Morris's relationship with his mother had improved, and he would regularly take his wife and children to visit her at her house in Leyton . He also went on various holidays; in

14852-478: The family relied upon continued income from the copper mines at Devon Great Consols , and sold Woodford Hall to move into the smaller Water House . In February 1848 Morris began his studies at Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire , where he gained a reputation as an eccentric nicknamed "Crab". He despised his time there, being bullied, bored, and homesick. He did use the opportunity to visit many of

15010-716: The fine arts and adopted an ethos of affordability and anti-elitism. For additional staff, they employed boys from the Industrial Home for Destitute Boys in Euston , central London, many of whom were trained as apprentices. Although working within the Neo-Gothic school of design, they differed from Neo-Gothic architects like George Gilbert Scott who simply included certain Gothic features on modern styles of building; instead they sought to return completely to Medieval Gothic methods of craftmanship. The products created by

15168-420: The fine arts of textiles, wood and metal work and interior design. Morris also produced medieval and ancient themed poetry, beside socialist tracts and the medieval Utopia News From Nowhere (1890). Morris formed Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861, which produced and sold furnishings and furniture, often with medieval themes, to the emerging middle classes. The first Arts and Crafts exhibition in

15326-642: The first half of the twentieth century pulp fiction writers like Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith helped popularise the sword and sorcery branch of fantasy, which often utilised prehistoric and non-European settings beside elements of the medieval. In contrast, authors such as E. R. Eddison and particularly J.R.R. Tolkien , set the type for high fantasy , normally based in a pseudo-medieval setting, mixed with elements of medieval folklore. Other fantasy writers have emulated such elements, and films, role-playing and computer games also took up this tradition. Modern fantasy writers have taken elements of

15484-522: The first of which was A Book of Verse , completed as a birthday present for Georgina Burne-Jones. 12 of these 18 were handwritten copies of Nordic tales such as Halfdan the Black , Frithiof the Bold , and The Dwellers of Eyr . Morris deemed calligraphy to be an art form, and taught himself both Roman and italic script, as well as learning how to produce gilded letters. In November 1872 he published Love

15642-815: The folklore that fantasy drew on for its magic and monsters was not exclusively medieval, elves, dragons, and unicorns, among many other creatures, were drawn from medieval folklore and romance . Earlier writers in the genre, such as George MacDonald in The Princess and the Goblin (1872), William Morris in The Well at the World's End (1896) and Lord Dunsany in The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924), set their tales in fantasy worlds clearly derived from medieval sources, though often filtered through later views. In

15800-459: The furniture, walls, and ceilings, much of it based on Arthurian tales, the Trojan War , and Geoffrey Chaucer 's stories, while he also designed floral embroideries for the rooms. They also spent much time playing tricks on each other, enjoying games like hide and seek , and singing while accompanied by the piano. Siddall stayed at the House during summer and autumn 1861 as she recovered from

15958-827: The group's collapse. However, his discontent with the British liberal movement grew following the election of the Liberal Party's William Ewart Gladstone to the Premiership in 1880. Morris was particularly angered that Gladstone's government did not reverse the Disraeli regime's occupation of the Transvaal , introduced the Coercion Bill , and oversaw the Bombardment of Alexandria . Morris later related that while he had once believed that "one might further real Socialistic progress by doing what one could on

16116-575: The home of Burne-Jones, with the duo meeting on almost every Sunday morning for the rest of Morris's life. Leaving Jane and his children with Rossetti at Kelmscott, in July 1871 Morris left for Iceland with Faulkner, W. H. Evans, and Eiríkur. Sailing from the Scottish port of Granton aboard a Danish mail boat , they proceeded to the island via Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands before arriving at Reykjavík , where they disembarked. There they met

16274-436: The idea faded. In summer 1854, Morris travelled to Belgium to look at Medieval paintings, and in July 1855 went with Burne-Jones and Fulford across northern France, visiting Medieval churches and cathedrals. It was on this trip that he and Burne-Jones committed themselves to "a life of art". For Morris, this decision resulted in a strained relationship with his family, who believed that he should have entered either commerce or

16432-436: The idea that scholars of the historical medieval period might consider themselves licensed to in some way to intervene in contemporary medievalism", as to do so "conflates two very different historical periods". Eileen Joy (co-founder and co-editor of the postmedieval journal), responded to Spiegel that "the idea of a medieval past itself, as something that can be demarcated and cordoned off from other historical time periods,

16590-480: The idealised peasantry and medieval community, particularly of the fourteenth century, often with socialist political tendencies and reaching its height between about 1880 and 1910. The movement was inspired by the writings of Carlyle and Ruskin and was spearheaded by the work of William Morris , a friend of the Pre-Raphaelites and a former apprentice to Gothic-revival architect G. E. Street. He focused on

16748-428: The idyllic Medievalist depictions of rural life which appeared in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, and spent large sums of money purchasing such artworks. Burne-Jones shared this interest, but took it further by becoming an apprentice to one of the foremost Pre-Raphaelite painters, Dante Gabriel Rossetti ; the three soon became close friends. Through Rossetti, Morris came to associate with poet Robert Browning , and

16906-651: The late 14th century, the synopsis revolved around a group of Norsemen who flee the Black Death by sailing away from Europe, on the way discovering an island where the inhabitants continue to venerate the ancient Greek gods. Published in four parts by F. S. Ellis , it soon gained a cult following and established Morris's reputation as a major poet. By 1870, Morris had become a public figure in Britain, resulting in repeated press requests for photographs, which he despised. That year, he also reluctantly agreed to sit for

17064-573: The later English Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . Eventually, medievalism moved from the confines of fiction into the immediate realm of social commentary as a means of critiquing life in the Industrial Era . An early work of this kind is William Cobbett 's History of the Protestant Reformation (1824–6), which was influenced by his reading of John Lingard 's History of England (1819–30), among other sources. Cobbett attacked

17222-552: The leading figure in the League, Morris embarked on a series of speeches and talks on street corners, in working men's clubs , and in lecture theatres across England and Scotland. He also visited Dublin , there offering his support for Irish nationalism , and formed a branch of the League at his Hammersmith house. By the time of their first conference in July 1885, the League had eight branches across England and had affiliations with several socialist groups in Scotland. However, as

17380-515: The lines of ordinary middle-class Radicalism", following Gladstone's election he came to realise "that Radicalism is on the wrong line, so to say, and will never develope [sic] into anything more than Radicalism: in fact that it is made for and by the middle classes and will always be under the control of rich capitalists". In 1876, Morris visited the Church of St John the Baptist, Burford , where he

17538-477: The magazine lasted for twelve issues, and garnered praise from Tennyson and Ruskin. Having passed his finals and been awarded a BA , Morris began an apprenticeship with the Oxford-based Neo-Gothic architect George Edmund Street in January 1856. His apprenticeship focused on architectural drawing, and there he was placed under the supervision of the young architect Philip Webb , who became

17696-401: The many Medieval buildings in Oxford. This interest was tied to Britain's growing Medievalist movement, a form of Romanticism that rejected many of the values of Victorian industrial capitalism . For Morris, the Middle Ages represented an era with strong chivalric values and an organic, pre-capitalist sense of community, both of which he deemed preferable to his own period. This attitude

17854-645: The mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo . They believed that the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art. Hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". In particular, they objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds , the founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts , believing that his broad technique

18012-597: The medieval as a major genre, issuing periodic remakes of the King Arthur , William Wallace and Robin Hood stories, adapting to the screen such historical romantic novels as Ivanhoe (1952—by MGM ), and producing epics in the vein of El Cid (1961). More recent revivals of these genres include Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991), The 13th Warrior (1999) and The Kingdom of Heaven (2005). While

18170-621: The medieval era. The same impulse manifested itself in the translation of medieval national epics into modern vernacular languages, including Nibelungenlied (1782) in Germany, The Lay of the Cid (1799) in Spain, Beowulf (1833) in England, The Song of Roland (1837) in France, which were widely read and highly influential on subsequent literary and artistic work. The name Nazarene

18328-625: The medieval from these works to produce some of the most commercially successful works of fiction of recent years, sometimes pointing to the absurdities of the genre, as in Terry Pratchett 's Discworld novels, or mixing it with the modern world as in J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter books. In the second half of the twentieth century interest in the medieval was increasingly expressed through form of re-enactment, including combat reenactment , re-creating historical conflict, armour, arms and skill, as well as living history which re-creates

18486-742: The modern fantasy genre, while he helped win acceptance of socialism in fin de siècle Great Britain. Morris was born in Walthamstow , Essex , to a wealthy middle-class family. He came under the strong influence of medievalism while studying classics at Oxford University , where he joined the Birmingham Set . After university, he married Jane Burden , and developed close friendships with Pre-Raphaelite artists Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and with Neo-Gothic architect Philip Webb . Webb and Morris designed Red House in Kent where Morris lived from 1859 to 1865, before moving to Bloomsbury , central London. In 1861, Morris founded

18644-624: The modern horror genre. This helped create the dark romanticism or American Gothic of authors like Edgar Allan Poe in works including " The Fall of the House of Usher " (1839) and " The Pit and the Pendulum " (1842) and Nathanial Hawthorne in " The Minister's Black Veil " (1836) and " The Birth-Mark " (1843). This in turn influenced American novelists like Herman Melville in works such as Moby-Dick (1851). Early Victorian Gothic novels included Emily Brontë 's Wuthering Heights (1847) and Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre (1847). The genre

18802-587: The newspaper, in doing so befriending another contributor, George Bernard Shaw . His socialist activism monopolised his time, forcing him to abandon a translation of the Persian Shahnameh . It also led to him seeing far less of Burne-Jones, with whom he had strong political differences; although once a republican , Burne-Jones had become increasingly conservative, and felt that the DF were exploiting Morris for his talents and influence. While Morris devoted much time to trying to convert his friends to

18960-521: The nineteenth century real and pseudo-medieval symbols were a currency of European monarchical state propaganda. German emperors dressed up in and proudly displayed medieval costumes in public, and they rebuilt the great medieval castle and spiritual home of the Teutonic Order at Marienburg . Ludwig II of Bavaria built a fairy-tale castle at Neuschwanstein and decorated it with scenes from Wagner 's operas, another major Romantic image maker of

19118-512: The ongoing restoration of Tewkesbury Abbey and was vociferous in denouncing the architects responsible, something that deeply upset Street. Turning SPAB's attention abroad, in Autumn 1879 Morris launched a campaign to protect St Mark's Basilica in Venice from restoration, garnering a petition with 2000 signatures, among whom were Disraeli, Gladstone, and Ruskin. In summer 1881, Morris took out

19276-481: The others. At Rossetti's recommendation, Morris and Burne-Jones moved in together to the flat at Bloomsbury's No. 17 Red Lion Square by November 1856. Morris designed and commissioned furniture for the flat in a Medieval style, much of which he painted with Arthurian scenes in a direct rejection of mainstream artistic tastes. Morris also continued writing poetry and began designing illuminated manuscripts and embroidered hangings. In March 1857 Bell and Dandy published

19434-539: The prehistoric sites of Wiltshire, such as Avebury and Silbury Hill , which fascinated him. The school was Anglican in faith and in March 1849 Morris was confirmed by the Bishop of Salisbury in the college chapel, developing an enthusiastic attraction towards the Anglo-Catholic movement and its Romanticist aesthetic. At Christmas 1851, Morris was removed from the school and returned to Water House, where he

19592-428: The reign of Queen Victoria there was considerable interest in things medieval, particularly among the ruling classes. The notorious Eglinton Tournament of 1839 attempted to revive the medieval grandeur of the monarchy and aristocracy. Medieval fancy dress became common in this period at royal and aristocratic masquerades and balls and individuals and families were painted in medieval costume. These trends inspired

19750-422: The rest of their lives. Twice each month they participate in a feast at which a tale is told, alternately, by one of the city elders and one of the wanderers. The former tell tales on classical subjects, and the latter draw their tales from Norse and other medieval sources. Thus, of the twenty-four stories, twelve are Greek and classical and twelve are medieval or romantic. Each pair of stories corresponds with one of

19908-478: The role of honorary secretary and treasurer, most of the other early members of SPAB were his friends, while the group's program was rooted in Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849). As part of SPAB's campaign, Morris tried to build connections with art and antiquarian societies and the custodians of old buildings, and also contacted the press to highlight his cause. He was particularly strong in denouncing

20066-475: The roots of languages and cultures including English, German, Icelandic and Dutch. Antiquaries of the time believed that languages and cultures were intertwined, and Old English texts, especially Beowulf , were claimed by antiquarians from each linguistic-cultural group as 'their' oldest poem. In England, Rebecca Brackmann argues that an increased interest in Old English and imagined Anglo-Saxon culture

20224-413: The rural retreat of Kelmscott Manor , Oxfordshire , from 1871 while also retaining a main home in London. He was greatly influenced by visits to Iceland with Eiríkur Magnússon , and he produced a series of English-language translations of Icelandic Sagas. He also achieved success with the publication of his epic poems and novels, namely The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball (1888),

20382-456: The social and cultural life of the past, in areas such as clothing, food and crafts. The movement has led to the creation of medieval markets and Renaissance fairs , from the late 1980s, particularly in Germany and the United States of America. Neo-medievalism (or neomedievalism) is a neologism that was first popularized by the Italian medievalist Umberto Eco in his 1973 essay "Dreaming of

20540-455: The sole nexus", and for the leadership of paternalistic " Captains of Industry ". Along with medievalist writers Walter Scott , Robert Southey , and Kenelm Henry Digby , Carlyle was among the "important literary influences" on Young England , a "parliamentary experiment in romanticism which created considerable stir during the eighteen-forties," led by Lord John Manners and Benjamin Disraeli . Young England developed contemporaneously with

20698-560: The strikers. The following month he marched in a central London demonstration commemorating the first anniversary of Marx's death and the thirteenth anniversary of the Paris Commune . Morris aided the DF using his artistic and literary talents; he designed the group's membership card, and helped author their manifesto, Socialism Made Plain , in which they demanded improved housing for workers, free compulsory education for all children, free school meals, an eight-hour working day ,

20856-713: The summer of 1866 he, Webb, and Taylor toured the churches of northern France. In August 1866 Morris joined the Burne-Jones family on their holiday in Lymington , while in August 1867 both families holidayed together in Oxford. In August 1867 the Morrises holidayed in Southwold , Suffolk , while in the summer of 1869 Morris took his wife to Bad Ems in Rhineland-Palatinate , central Germany, where it

21014-459: The twelve months, which follow the natural succession of the seasons. In this way, the first two tales are told in March, the second two in April, and so on. Thus the long poem is neatly partitioned into twelve books with interpolated prologues and epilogues in the form of lyrics about the progressive changes in nature. The Earthly Paradise is written in different forms. William Morris used rhyme royal , heroic couplet or iambic tetrameter . This

21172-611: The urging of Carlyle, Ruskin, who identified as both a "violent Tory of the old school" and a "Communist of the old school", adapted this thesis to his theory of political economy in Unto This Last (1860), and to his "Ideal Commonwealth" in Time and Tide (1867), the characteristics of which were derived from the Middle Ages: the guild system , the feudal system, chivalry, and the church. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

21330-493: The very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century". Morris adopted Ruskin's philosophy of rejecting the tawdry industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture in favour of a return to hand-craftsmanship, raising artisans to the status of artists, creating art that should be affordable and hand-made, with no hierarchy of artistic mediums. Ruskin had achieved attention in Victorian society for championing

21488-462: The working-classes and poor, Morris felt personally conflicted in serving the interests of these individuals, privately describing it as "ministering to the swinish luxury of the rich". Continuing with his literary output, Morris translated his own version of Virgil 's Aeneid , titling it The Aeneids of Vergil (1876). Although many translations were already available, often produced by trained Classicists, Morris claimed that his unique perspective

21646-407: Was a group of English painters , poets , and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt , John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti . The three founders were soon joined by William Michael Rossetti , James Collinson , Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form a seven-member "brotherhood". The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be

21804-631: Was a leading force in American Gothic, with his most ambitious project the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York (one of the largest cathedrals in the world), as well as Collegiate Gothic buildings at Princeton Graduate College . On a wider level the wooden Carpenter Gothic churches and houses were built in large numbers across North America in this period. In English literature,

21962-528: Was a result of, and in turn fuelled, political upheaval in the 17th and 18th centuries. Great Seal of the United States In the United States, Anglo-Saxon mythologies persisted, with Thomas Jefferson proposing that Hengist and Horsa were shown on the Great Seal of the United States . Romanticism was a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of

22120-480: Was a sloppy and formulaic form of academic Mannerism. In contrast, they wanted to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art. The Arts and Crafts movement was an aesthetic movement, directly influenced by the Gothic Revival and the Pre-Raphaelites, but moving away from aristocratic, nationalist and high Gothic influences to an emphasis on

22278-670: Was a small, fledgling and vaguely defined movement, with only a few hundred adherents. Britain's first socialist party, the Democratic Federation (DF), had been founded in 1881 by Henry Hyndman , an adherent of the socio-political ideology of Marxism , with Morris joining the DF in January 1883. Morris began to read voraciously on the subject of socialism, including Henry George 's Progress and Poverty , Alfred Russel Wallace 's Land Nationalisation , and Karl Marx 's Das Kapital , although admitted that Marx's economic analysis of capitalism gave him "agonies of confusion on

22436-490: Was adopted by a group of early nineteenth-century German Romantic painters who reacted against Neoclassicism and hoped to return to art which embodied spiritual values. They sought inspiration in artists of the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance , rejecting what they saw as the superficial virtuosity of later art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of

22594-489: Was appalled at the restoration conducted by his old mentor, G. E. Street. He recognised that these programs of architectural restoration led to the destruction or major alteration of genuinely old features in order to replace them with "sham old" features, something which appalled him. To combat the increasing trend for restoration, in March 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), which he personally referred to as "Anti-Scrape". As he adopted

22752-779: Was arrested himself after fighting back against a police officer; a magistrate dismissed the charges. The Black Monday riots of February 1886 led to increased political repression against left-wing agitators, and in July Morris was again arrested and fined for public obstruction while preaching socialism on the streets. Morris oversaw production of the League's monthly—soon to become weekly—newspaper, Commonweal , serving as its editor for six years, during which time he kept it financially afloat. First published in February 1885, it would contain contributions from such prominent socialists as Engels, Shaw, Paul Lafargue , Wilhelm Liebknecht , and Karl Kautsky , with Morris also regularly writing articles and poems for it. In Commonweal he serialised

22910-438: Was as "a poet not a pedant". He also continued producing translations of Icelandic tales with Magnússon, including Three Northern Love Stories (1875) and Völuspa Saga (1876). In 1877 Morris was approached by Oxford University and offered the largely honorary position of Professor of Poetry. He declined, asserting that he felt unqualified, knowing little about scholarship on the theory of poetry. In summer 1876 Jenny Morris

23068-518: Was born at Elm House in Walthamstow , Essex , on 24 March 1834. Raised into a wealthy middle-class family, he was named after his father, a financier who worked as a partner in the Sanderson & Co. firm, bill brokers in the City of London . His mother was Emma Morris (née Shelton), who descended from a wealthy bourgeois family from Worcester . Morris was the third of his parents' surviving children; their first child, Charles, had been born in 1827 but died four days later. Charles had been followed by

23226-575: Was compounded by his reading of Thomas Carlyle 's book Past and Present (1843), in which Carlyle championed Medieval values as a corrective to the problems of Victorian society. Under this influence, Morris's dislike of contemporary capitalism grew, and he came to be influenced by the work of Christian socialists Charles Kingsley and Frederick Denison Maurice . At the college, Morris met fellow first-year undergraduate Edward Burne-Jones , who became his lifelong friend and collaborator. Although from very different backgrounds, they found that they had

23384-446: Was diagnosed with epilepsy . Refusing to allow her to be societally marginalised or institutionalised, as was common in the period, Morris insisted that she be cared for by the family. When Janey took May and Jenny to Oneglia in Italy, the latter suffered a serious seizure, with Morris rushing to the country to see her. They then proceeded to visit a number of other cities, including Venice , Padua , and Verona , with Morris attaining

23542-440: Was disgusted by the poor living conditions of workers and the pollution caused by industry; these factors greatly influenced his political views. After learning the skills of dyeing, in the late 1870s Morris turned his attention to weaving, experimenting with silk weaving at Queen's Square. In the Spring of 1877, the Firm opened a store at No. 449 Oxford Street and obtained new staff who were able to improve its professionalism; as

23700-416: Was generally well received by reviewers: according to one study it "established Morris's reputation as one of the foremost poets of his day". Tolkien's use of frame stories was directly influenced by Morris's poem. In particular, the frame story of Tolkien's legendarium , starting from the travels of Ælfwine the mariner , was modelled on the poem's frame story, that "mariners of Norway, having ... heard of

23858-402: Was hoped that the local health waters would aid her ailments. While there, he enjoyed walks in the countryside and focused on writing poetry. Morris had continued to devote much time to writing poetry. In 1867 Bell and Dandy published Morris's epic poem, The Life and Death of Jason , at his own expense. The book was a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of the hero Jason and his quest to find

24016-415: Was imitative of much of theirs. Both he and Burne-Jones were influenced by the Romanticist milieu and the Anglo-Catholic movement, and decided to become clergymen in order to found a monastery where they could live a life of chastity and dedication to artistic pursuit, akin to that of the contemporary Nazarene movement . However, as time went on Morris became increasingly critical of Anglican doctrine and

24174-466: Was introduced to the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt , with whom she embarked on a second affair, which Morris might have been aware of. In January 1881 Morris was involved in the establishment of the Radical Union , an amalgam of radical working-class groups which hoped to rival the Liberals, and became a member of its executive committee. However, he soon rejected liberal radicalism completely and moved toward socialism . In this period, British socialism

24332-506: Was particularly energetic in attacking the religiously dominated Middle Ages as a period of social stagnation and decline, condemning Feudalism , Scholasticism , The Crusades , The Inquisition and the Catholic Church in general. The Gothic Revival was an architectural movement which began in the 1740s in England . Its popularity grew rapidly in the early nineteenth century, when increasingly serious and learned admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval forms in contrast to

24490-445: Was privately tutored by the Reverend Frederick B. Guy, Assistant Master at the nearby Forest School . In June 1852 Morris entered Exeter College at Oxford University , although, since the college was full, he went into residence only in January 1853. He disliked the college and was bored by the manner in which they taught him Classics . Instead he developed a keen interest in Medieval history and Medieval architecture, inspired by

24648-442: Was regularly criticised for doing so by the mainstream press. In November 1883 he was invited to speak at University College, Oxford , on the subject of "Democracy and Art" and there began espousing socialism; this shocked and embarrassed many members of staff, earning national press coverage. With other DF members, he travelled to Blackburn, Lancashire in February 1884 amid the great cotton strike, where he lectured on socialism to

24806-449: Was revived and modernised toward the end of the century with works like Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) and Bram Stoker 's Dracula (1897). Main article: Anglo-Saxonism in the 19th century The development of philology through the 17th-19th centuries as a subject of study in north west Europe and England saw increased interest in tracing

24964-478: Was the most affluent member of the Set, and was generous with his wealth toward the others. Like Morris, the Set were fans of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson , and would meet together to recite the plays of William Shakespeare . Morris was heavily influenced by the writings of the art critic John Ruskin , being particularly inspired by his chapter "On the Nature of Gothic Architecture" in the second volume of The Stones of Venice ; he later described it as "one of

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