University of Dundee DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY Eco-Socialism in The
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University of Dundee DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Eco-socialism in the early poetry and prose of William Morris Macdonald, Gillian E. Award date: 2015 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 03. Oct. 2021 The University of Dundee Eco-socialism in the early poetry and prose of William Morris By Gillian E. Macdonald Thesis submitted to the University of Dundee in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. July 2015 Table of Contents Page Abbreviations Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Abstract Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems and the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine (1856-59). (I) Introduction 15 (II) Sources and influences 15 (III) The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine 27 (i) Social equality and the sense of community 28 (ii) The portrayal of women 37 (iii) The importance of rewarding work 46 (iv) The importance of nature and the environment 49 (v) The folly of materialism 53 (IV) The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems 58 (i) Social equality and the sense of community 60 (ii) The portrayal of women 63 (iii) The importance of nature and the environment 70 (iv) The folly of materialism 72 (V) Conclusion 73 Chapter 2 The Life and Death of Jason and Scenes from the Fall of Troy (1859-1867) (I) Introduction 76 (II) Scenes From The Fall Of Troy (i) Introduction and sources 82 (ii) Social equality and the sense of community 92 (iii) The portrayal of women 98 (iv) The importance of nature and the environment 104 (v) The folly of materialism 107 (III) The Life and Death of Jason (i) Introduction 108 (ii) Social equality and the sense of community 112 (iii) The portrayal of women 117 (iv) The importance of rewarding work 126 (v) The importance of nature and the environment 128 (vi) The folly of materialism 130 (IV) Conclusion 132 Chapter 3 The Earthly Paradise: A Poem (1868-1870) (I) Introduction 134 (II) Sources and influences 142 (III) The Earthly Paradise (i) Social equality and the sense of community 158 (ii) The portrayal of women 169 (iii) The importance of rewarding work 177 (iv) The importance of nature and the environment 183 (v) The folly of materialism 195 (IV) Conclusion 201 Chapter 4 Morris’s Icelandic Period (1871-1876) (I) Introduction 203 (II) Sources and Influences 206 (III) The translations 216 (IV) The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (i) Introduction 224 (ii) Social equality and the sense of community 230 (iii) The portrayal of women 238 (iv) The importance of rewarding work 251 (v) The importance of nature and the environment 255 (vi) The folly of materialism 261 (V) Conclusion 266 Conclusion 268 Appendix I 276 List of all the books printed at the Kelmscott Press Appendix II 279 List of William Morris’s contributions to the OCM Appendix III 280 Illustrations Bibliography of Works Cited 302 Abbreviations C.W. The Collected Works of William Morris, 24 vols. ed. May Morris (London: Longmans, Green and Company, 1910-15). JWMS Journal of the William Morris Society Letters The Collected Letters of William Morris Vols. I & II ed. Norman Kelvin(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984). OCM The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine List of Illustrations See Appendix III Figure 1: William Morris aged 23 (1857). Photographer unknown. By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 2: La Belle Iseult by William Morris (1857-8) By Permission of Tate Britain Figure 3: The Book of Verse (1870) by William Morris pp.32-3. Figure 4: The Kelmscott Chaucer By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 5: Garden of Pleasure from the Roman de la Rose by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. Harley MS. 4425. British Library. Figure 6: Trellis wallpaper (1862). By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 7: Arthur’s Tomb (1860) by Dante Gabrielle Rossetti. By Permission of Tate Britain. Figure 8: Jane Morris (The Blue Silk Dress) (1868) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The Society of Antiquaries of London (Kelmscott Manor). Figure 9: Red House Bexleyheath, London. ©National Trust Images John Miller. Figure 10: Dining dresser designed for Red House by Philip Webb. © National Trust Images Nadia Mackenzie. Figure 11: Green Summer (1864) by Edward Burne-Jones. Figure 12: The Sieve Portrait (c.1580-83) of Elizabeth I attributed to the Dutch Mannerist painter, Cornelius Ketel. Figure 13: Copy of f.8 of Scenes From The Fall Of Troy by William Morris. MS Add. 45321 British Library Figure 14: Iron and Coal (1855-60) by William Bell Scott. Figure 15: The Stonebreaker (1857) by Henry Wallis. Figure 16: Kelmscott Press edition of News from Nowhere (1892). By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 17: William Morris giving a weaving demonstration (1888) Drawing by Edward Burne-Jones. By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 18: Daisy wallpaper (1862). By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 19: William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones being blessed by Chaucer (1896) by Edward Burne-Jones. Figure 20: Viking Ship (1884). Morris & Co. stained glass designed by Edward Burne-Jones. Delaware Art Museum. Figure 21: William Morris c. 1870. By permission of William Morris Gallery, London. Figure 22: We Sit Starving Amidst Our Gold (2013) by Jeremy Deller. Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support of a number of people. In the course of my research, I have been greatly assisted by the staff at the library of University of Dundee, the British Library and the William Morris Society. I am indebted to the William Morris Society for awarding me The Peter Floud Prize in 2011. I should also thank Peter Faulkner of The William Morris Society for his kind advice and assistance. I am particularly grateful to my supervisor Dr. Jodi-Anne George, whose knowledgeable guidance and practical support have been invaluable. Without her patient and professional supervision this thesis would not have been completed. I have also had the support and encouragement of all my family and many friends. I am grateful to them all for keeping me sane! Finally, though, thanks should go to my husband, Hector, who has patiently encouraged and supported me during the course of my research. He is, indeed, ‘piteous of nature’ and his forbearance knows no bounds. Declaration I hereby declare that I am the author of the following thesis; that I have consulted all references cited; that the work of which this thesis is a record has been carried out by myself; and that it has not been previously accepted for a higher degree. Gillian E. Macdonald 10th July 2015 Certificate This is to certify that Gillian Macdonald has carried out research under my supervision and that she has fulfilled the conditions of the relevant Ordinance and Regulations for the completion of a PhD degree. Dr. Jodi-Anne George Senior Lecture in English University of Dundee 10th July 2015 Abstract William Morris was a highly significant political and cultural figure of the nineteenth century. He was a great artist-craftsman and was hugely influential in the rise of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the second half of the nineteenth century, a movement which saw the revival of traditional crafts as a reaction to the utilitarianism of industrial mass production. Already an accomplished artist and writer, Morris became, in the 1880s, a significant figure in the development of the socialist movement. Often described as the first English Marxist, Morris ‘became’ a socialist when he joined the Democratic Federation in 1883. Morris was also deeply concerned about the destruction of the natural world caused by the increasing number of factories and he detested the stark contrast between the poverty of the factory workers and the wealth of the factory owners. He viewed the two, that is, social equality and care of the environment, as inextricably linked. Arguably, his political ideology would be best described today as eco-socialism. This thesis will demonstrate that, even as a young man, before he became politically active Morris was already thinking deeply about contemporary social and environmental problems, most of which were caused by what he viewed as the scourges of his era, capitalism and its concomitant industrialisation. This will be achieved by an examination of the cultural, social and literary influences on Morris from his childhood up to 1876. This analysis will focus on some of his literary inspirations that have not been explored to date. The aim of this thesis will be achieved , in addition, by a critical reading of Morris’s early poetry and prose from his contributions to the OCM in 1856 to the publication of Sigurd the Volsung in 1876. 1 Introduction ‘[It is] profit which won’t take most ordinary precautions against wrapping a whole district in a cloud of sulphurous smoke; which turns beautiful rivers into filthy sewers, which condemns all but the rich to live in houses idiotically cramped and confined at the best, and at worst in houses for whose wretchedness there is no name.’1 William Morris was one of the great polymaths of the nineteenth century.