William Morris, his homes and haunts (1912) (14781584054)

Identifier: williammorrishis00warw (find matches)
Title: William Morris, his homes and haunts
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Warwick, Frances Evelyn Maynard Greville, Countess of, 1861-1933
Subjects: Morris, William, 1834-1896 Authors, English
Publisher: New York : Dodge Publishing company
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University



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this time also inStreets offitie. With such men of genius around him,Morris was fairly launched on his career. There was one side of his nature which was onlylong afterwards to come to the surface. Just beforeleaving Oxford he had written: Love and work,these two things only. ... I cant enter into politico-social subjects with any interest, for on the whole Isee that things are in a muddle, and I have no poweror vocation to get them right in ever so little a degree.My work is the embodiment of dreams in one form oranother. It was in 1857, when Morris and Burne-Jonesmoved into rooms at No. 17 Red Lion Square, thatMorris was driven by sheer force of circumstances topractical craftsmanship. They wanted to furnish theirdwelling; and there was nothing to be bought whichwas fit for a decent taste. So Morris and Webb setto the designing and production of household goods,and here we have the first effort of the future famousfirm of decorators. Rossetti and Burne-Jones supplied the more purely
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MORRISS HOUSE, IN RED LION SQUARE THE CRAFTSMAN 13 decorative side of this early furniture, in the form ofpaintings on the panels. It was in 1857, while on a visit to Oxford, wherehe was helping to decorate the walls of the UnionSociety, that Morris met his future wife. Miss JaneBurden. So it is not surprising that he spent mostof his time in Oxford until his marriage in 1859. In 1858 he had published his first volume, the bookof poems collected under the title of ** The Defence.^of Guenevere and other Poems. It has^jprobablybeen more read than any of his poems ; but at the timeof its appearance, was almost ignored by the generalpublic; and^ven the praise of Robert Browning couldnot encourage Morris to write any more poetry for along time—until he began ** The Earthly Paradise in1866. The Defence of Guenevere volume is packedwith gems of drama, of melody, and sheer beauty. Itprobably holds more real poetry than any of Morrissother work in verse, unless, perhaps, Love is Enough.The v