Morris William

Morris, William, was born in 1834 at Walthainstow, and educated at Marlborough and Exeter College, Oxford. He was afterwards articled to Street, the architect, and made some attempts at painting. In 1858, however, his Defence of Guenevere and other Poems showed his true vocation to be that of a poet. It was followed in 1867 by The Life and Death of Jason, and later by his masterpiece, The Earthly Paradise (1868-70). He also published verse translations of the AEneid and the Odyssey, and some prose renderings (with Mr. Magnusson) of Icelandic sagas. Chief among his prose romances are The Storu of Sigurd the Volsung (1878), A Dream of John Ball (1888), and A Tale of the House of the Woljings (1889). In 1863 he founded with Rossetti, Burne-Jones, and others an establishment for making wall-papers and stained-glass; and, later, set up a printing press. He took an enthusiastic part in the Socialist movement. He died in 1896.