William Morris, his homes and haunts . ith smoke,Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke,Forget the spreading of the hideous town ;Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,The dream of London, small and white and clean,The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green. The Earthly Paradise is, indeed, William Morrissescape from the land he was fated to live in to the landwhich he would have chosen had he been a free agent. The first of the tales to see the public light was—^towrite as an Irishwoman—not one of the tales at the Life and Death of Jason grew so long thathe was compelled
William Morris, his homes and haunts . ith smoke,Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke,Forget the spreading of the hideous town ;Think rather of the pack-horse on the down,The dream of London, small and white and clean,The clear Thames bordered by its gardens green. The Earthly Paradise is, indeed, William Morrissescape from the land he was fated to live in to the landwhich he would have chosen had he been a free agent. The first of the tales to see the public light was—^towrite as an Irishwoman—not one of the tales at the Life and Death of Jason grew so long thathe was compelled to publish it independently; and soit happened that it was the first to appear: this was in1867. It was its authors first pubhc success in litera-ture. Of his Defence of Guenevere, published nineyears before, the first edition had not yet been sold. Ofthis second book, a fresh edition was needed at once,and the sale has been continuous ever since. There is a placid serenity about this tale of Jason « .-^^f ..^ ,-.^/<- .. :.y-. MORRISS HOUSE, 26 QUEENS SQUARE THE MAN OF LETTERS 21 and his search after the Golden Fleece. Even in themost dramatic moments—when the flames of Medeasvengeance rush up around Glauce, Jasons new love—one feels somehow that it is the decorative orderlinessof an illuminated manuscript, rather than the devouringand scorching heat of real fire. And so it is, more orless, with all the tales of the Earthly Paradise: gentle,unaffected melodiousness; the simple telling of a seriesof events. They are not great verse, they are greatstories, told perfectly by a man who loved the labourof telling them. The publication of these volumes of the EarthlyParadise was leading Morriss fertile mind into anothercraft. Just as he wanted his story to be beautifullyworded, so also he wished it to be beautifully ^eauty with Morris was a universal need. He askedBurne-Jones to join in a scheme according to which thelatter was to prepare five hundred designs fo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectauthors, bookyear1912
