William Morris was born in 1834 in Walthamstead, Essex, England, and died in London in 1896. He went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1853, where he formed a close friendship with Edward Burne-Jones, the future artist. A little later he came under the influence of Rossetti, who induced him to attempt painting, an art which he followed with no great success. In 1858 he published The Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems. This volume was followed by The Life and Death of Jason (1867), The Earthly Paradise (finished 1872), and Sigurd the Volsung (1876). In 1863 he became a manufacturer of wall paper and artistic furniture, branching out afterwards into weaving, dyeing, and other crafts. After 1885 he was a confirmed Socialist, speaking frequently at laborers' meetings and pouring forth a steady stream of leaflets and pamphlets in support of his radical beliefs. His death was probably due to overwork.

Morris was by instinct a lover of the beautiful and harmonious. A fluent versifier, he delighted especially in the composition of narrative poetry, which he adorned with ornate description and superb decoration. This very richness sometimes cloys the taste and tends to arouse a feeling of monotony. His longest work, The Earthly Paradise, is modelled somewhat on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and contains twenty-four stories, twelve mediÆval and twelve classic in origin.

A satisfactory short life is that by Alfred Noyes in the English Men of Letters Series.

Atalanta's Race (Page 187)

Published in 1868 as the first story in the collection called The Earthly Paradise. The episode was a favorite with Greek and Latin writers, and has been used occasionally in modern times. The metre in this version is the antiquated Rime Royal.

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