Hopes and Fears for Art

William Morris (24 March 1834 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role in propagating the early socialist movement in Britain. Morris is recognised as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain; though best known in his lifetime as a poet, he posthumously became better known for his designs. Early fantasy writers like Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison and James Branch Cabell were familiar with Morris s romances. The Wood Beyond the World is considered to have heavily influenced C. S. Lewis Narnia series, while J. R. R. Tolkien was inspired by Morris s reconstructions of early Germanic life in The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. The young Tolkien attempted a retelling of the story of Kullervo from the Kalevala in the style of The House of the Wolfings; Tolkien considered much of his literary work to have been inspired by an early reading of Morris, even suggesting that he was unable to better Morris s work; the names of characters such as Gandolf and the horse Silverfax appear in The Well at the World s End.