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The Earthly Paradise A Poem
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
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About the author
William Morris
1,666 books494 followersWilliam Morris was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, socialist and Marxist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball and the utopian News from Nowhere. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, but breaking with the movement over goals and methods by the end of that decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891. The 1896 Kelmscott edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.
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November 10, 2019
A collection of medium to long narrative poems, largely culled from other sources, related in rather pedestrian aabbcc... or ababcdcd... rhyme schemes, generally pagan or non-Christian in origin and inspiration and having overall a somewhat wistful, melancholy air. As the 'Apology' at the beginning refers to the author as 'an idle singer of an idle day' and the 'L'Envoi' at the end repeats the phrase 'idle singer' and 'empty day', one gets the feeling of these tales being told around a fire after a hard day's work, when minds and souls are languid and somewhat sentimental. Each of the tales is interspersed with a page or two long poem celebrating a particular month of the year, and as there are twenty-five tales all told, each month gets about two separate celebrations to complete the yearly cycle the entire work, probably about 1500 pages in length, comprises.
Read better as a collection of short stories than a work with any overarching theme or argument, the following summaries present what I felt about the tales I thought most significant (Goodreads character limit kept me from included analysis of each of the stories):
1 ‘The Wanderers’
In this hundred-page narrative poem, a group of young men set out on what becomes a decade long journey in search of the fountain of youth (although the ‘philosopher’s stone’ and the ‘earthly paradise’ are also referenced), only to find impenetrable forests, cold, forbidding mountains of endless waste populated by naked cannibals and finally, a seeming end to their quest which by presenting such an idyllic vision, turns out more disappointing than all their other stops when it is revealed to be naught but a ruse.’ The overall tone is one of wistful sadness and bitter disappointment of old age.
3 ‘The Man Born to Be King’
A prophecy tells a king that he will be succeeded by one of low birth and despite his attempts – casting a babe away in a river in a cub, having him stabbed by a retainer in the woods and having him executed upon delivering a letter to a foreign seneschal – fate seems contrived to bring about a wedding and generally felicitous outcomes.
4 ‘The Doom of King Acrisius’
A paragon of romantic tales, including a direful prophecy of death, a damsel entombed alive in a tower, the intervention of gods on her behalf, a half-divine offspring, a magical sword, cap, shield and shoes, Medusa: the snake-headed demon with power to turn men to stone, a beautiful girl chained to a rock, an ominous monster arising from the sea, and, the development of a Golden Age when ‘in no house was any sound of wrong’ and ‘so steeped the land was in felicity’. It is not surprising that, in an aside,m the narrator comments: that ‘longer men lived them by many a year’.
5 ‘The Proud King’
King Jovinius is so puffed up with his self importance that he feels he might as well be a god. Then, separated from his hunting party (a very old trope), he goes swimming, only to find his clothes and horse gone upon emerging from the water. Much to his surprise and acute discomfort, nobody recognizes that he is the king, and while spending more than half of the story naked and going to a stewards, to court, to a hermit’s hut and then to court again, he is finally apprised of the fact that some form of angel has made this all happen to make him realize his mortality and the wretch state of existence that lies under all our assumed clothing and social roles. Good story: strong theme.
7 ‘The Writing on the Image’
At only ten pages, the briefest of the tales so far, telling a largely predictable ‘be careful what you wish for’ story of a discovered treasure and a direful end. Edgar Allan Poe would have written it better, with more of the emotion attendant thereunto, whereas Morris sees quite matter of fact in his rhymed iambic pentameters.
9 ‘The Lady of the Land’
A Florentine knight lands on an unnamed island to discover a beautiful woman in a ruined castle who has been placed under a spell to be, except for one day a year, a fire-breathing dragon. Should he manage to kiss her while she in this dragon state, he will win not only her love but also immense wealth. Upon his return the next morning, he turns and flees at the dragon’s advance, runs back to his ship and down into the hold where, in a delirium, he dies three days later. Not your normal hero-rescuing-the-fair-maiden story, eh?
10 ‘The Son of Croesus’
Atys is the son of Croesus who has had repeated dreams that his son will die by iron. Taking all precautions, he still allows, after protestations by Atys himself, him to go on a boar hunt. He sends a friend with him to protect him, but events don’t turn out the way any of the parties had in mind. The final scene at the immolation is truly a sad one. Well told, and good to know that all stories aren’t of the ‘they lived happily ever after’ variety.
11 ‘The Watching of the Falcon’
Another rather depressing story, of a King who achieves his heart’s desire by watching a falcon for seven days and nights and seeing a beautiful woman appear, is granted his supreme wish. The brevity of his joy and satisfaction is emphasized by the familial, political, military and historic difficulties he later encounters. The closing lines resonate with Morris’ despair: ‘their hasty hearts are not/With foolish hate and longing vain/The sire and dam of grief and pain. Almost Buddhist in its seeming rejection of any sense of human longing.
13 ‘Ogier the Dane’
A truly amazing tale of the machinations of fays (fairies) who turn out to be from Avallon and led by Morgan le Fay. It is best thought of as a drama in several scenes, the first of which has a King weeping by the death bed of his Queen, while the new born babe is visited by five spirits who make him various promises of fame and honour. The last of these promises to be his love when he has accomplished all his mortal life encompasses. This comes to pass in the third scene, which follows Ogier’s shipwreck on a ‘loadstone isle’, from which he climbs down on to the broken staves of wrecked vessels in its shoreline rocks. He then is rescued by a boat without a rudder but with lovely cushions on which he reclines on his way to Avallon. He spends a hundred years there with the lovely spirit. The next scene involves his return to France, which is at that time besieged by heathen forces. He asks to be called the ‘Ancient Knight’, and the Queen there takes off his ring, causing him to age and wither drastically. Replacing the ring, she urges him to action, and he saves the country. Since France’s true king has been killed, people urge him to become their new king but after a year, he disappears in the mist accompanying by the spirit/woman who had come to him when he was born so many years and seeming ages ago. Truly a wonderful, lyrical, poetic vision of pure fantasy.
15 ‘The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon’
At approximately a hundred and twenty pages, this is the longest tale in the collection so far and the reader is more than amply rewarded for giving it the patience a careful reading of it requires. For here Morris really outdoes himself with his forte: romantic, lyrical description. There is relatively little ‘action’ in the story: a young farmer’s son falls in love with a mystical maiden who is transformed from a swan but who allows him to journey wither to her other-worldly home. He then returns after a few years, becomes the object of the affections of a girl who tragically sees him set off again to try to find his ethereal love. Upon seemingly endless seas and scaling a vast hillside through woods, he eventually encounters a village of beings who appear somewhat to be automatons; never smiling or showing distress, and never noticing or interacting with him. Eventually he finds his love, and a blissful transformation occurs, ending with ‘For more and more and more of love’ though the poet cannot resist adding another stanza which ends that ‘Love can ne’er be satisfied’. Gregory, the stargazer whose persona is responsible for this episodic idyll, himself concludes that although ‘twain grew one and came to bliss’, one should always remember that ‘Woe’s me a idle dream it is!’. It is in the descriptions: of the beauty of the swans, of the raiment of the girl, of the body of poor Thorgerd, of the vastness and placidity of the seas, of the quaintness of the alpine village, and of the ardent fervour of John’s love that Morris really could write well. He could grasp a vision of a landscape or of an emotion and frame in in words that almost cry out to be read aloud to fully appreciate their sonorous, romantic rhyme and cadence. His theme thus comes through with real power: to find true love is virtually to have to travel ‘east of the sun and west of the moon’.
17 ‘The Man Who Never Laughed Again’
At seventy odd pages, this tale is just long enough to sustain the reader’s interest over six major changes in plot and moon. There are even a couple of mysteries, which turn out to be essentially one and the same, and which I am quite pleased to announce I had figured out about ten to twenty pages before the truth was eventually revealed. Sad, apathetic, dispirited, wretchedly poor characters dominate the first couple of section, both when the main character Bharam meets a guide who leads him to a household of several such despondent figures. The changes which occur to them and the resultant effect this has on Bharam’s fortunes and mood are almost unbelievable, but one should always keep in mind the explanation he is never given. His sudden transition is truly marvelous, and the fateful challenge he is given by a Queen was easy to spot as a key turning point, resulting in the denouement which closes the story with a very satisfying explanation for the cause behind the situation expressed in its title. Plot over writing this time, but very well done.
19 ‘The Lovers of Gudrun’
At almost one hundred and ninety pages in length, this is the longest by far of all the tales in this work. In It, Morris seems to have let his unbounded love for the old Norse sagas thoroughly overwhelm his imaginative temperament. There are two households of respected patriarchs with strong sons, there is a mysterious visitor who casts a pall of dire predictions over several of the key personages, there is a strong fellowship of friendship between two cousins in one of the households, there is a voyage to Norway from Iceland and seemingly tense relations between the two kingdoms. But above all else, there is love: Kiartin, Gudrun, Bodli, Refna and Ingibiorg all have feelings one for the other that lead to misunderstood intentions, frustrated longings, unresolved desires and finally, an ending for which none of them could have wished. Well told, although the specific way in which the one critical marriage came about, being largely an ’off-screen’ occurrence, significantly lessened the dramatic import of the the feelings and actions to which it gave rise. Still, very well done.
21 ‘The Festering of Aslaug’
A fifty-five page Cinderella type story of the child of Sigurd and Brynhild who is spirited away by Heimar only to have him killed by a pair of truly despicable innkeepers who then raise her for almost twenty years ‘with little meat and lots of blows’. Her great beauty causes the crone at the inn to despise and even fear her. When a ship lands nearby and sailors take her to on board, the captain is overcome by her beauty. They kiss after only exchanging a few words, swearing their love for one another. Keeping some coolness of head, she bids him leave, which he grudgingly agrees to do, but when he returns a year later, she sails away with King Ragnar of the Danes after they have paid a very handsome amount to the murderous innkeeper and his wife. Okay, I guess, but I would have liked better vengeance for the murder of Heimar to have been enacted.
22 ‘Bellephoron at Argos’
Quite an engaging tale of a young man of Corinth who commits a murder through no fault of his own (blame the gods – again!) and is welcomed by the King of Argos as a close friend and ally. However, the King’s wife, Sthenoboea develops feelings for the young man which bring about quite dire consequences for all concerned, but especially for the Queen herself. Her selfish, malevolent, egotistical and passionate character is very well drawn. I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic until I observed that Bellephoron’s story will be picked up again in one of the three remaining tales of this work. Good.
23 ‘The Ring Given to Venus’
From what my limited efforts seem to indicate, an original story by Morris of Laurence, a bridegroom who places his ring on an old statue of Venus, chastising her for her loss of power since she can no longer lead men astray as she did Paris prior to the destruction of Troy. The dire consequences of this seemingly trivial action are chillingly described. The attempt to recover the ring involves the sacrifice of an aged astrologer, Polumbus, and a trip by Laurence to a land that seems to be somewhat like Purgatory, in which phantasmagorical visions pass by him prior to the chastening resolution of his dilemma. Quite well done; one of the best in the entire collection.
24 ‘Bellerophon at Lycia’
An interesting take on the Bellerophon story from The Iliad, with the hero subduing, in a different order from the original, the warlike Solymi, the unnamed Amazons, a sea-marauder and the unnamed Chimera, who at least is accurately detailed as being part lion, goat, dragon and serpent. The conflicting emotions of King Jobates on whether or not he should follow the injunction given him by the king of Argos to have the hero done to death, the suspicious feelings and murderous actions of an unnamed captain and the seemingly undying love of Philonoe, which oddly enough never seems to come to much are all interestingly developed. It’s as if, other than the dramatic spectacle of his subject material, Morris wasn’t quite sure what to make of the conflicting emotions of his characters. Even the dramatic highlights are strangely presented, as they usually occur offstage and are only related as recent events to non-participants back in Argos. Not bad.
Overall, somewhat tedious but nonetheless interesting.
Read better as a collection of short stories than a work with any overarching theme or argument, the following summaries present what I felt about the tales I thought most significant (Goodreads character limit kept me from included analysis of each of the stories):
1 ‘The Wanderers’
In this hundred-page narrative poem, a group of young men set out on what becomes a decade long journey in search of the fountain of youth (although the ‘philosopher’s stone’ and the ‘earthly paradise’ are also referenced), only to find impenetrable forests, cold, forbidding mountains of endless waste populated by naked cannibals and finally, a seeming end to their quest which by presenting such an idyllic vision, turns out more disappointing than all their other stops when it is revealed to be naught but a ruse.’ The overall tone is one of wistful sadness and bitter disappointment of old age.
3 ‘The Man Born to Be King’
A prophecy tells a king that he will be succeeded by one of low birth and despite his attempts – casting a babe away in a river in a cub, having him stabbed by a retainer in the woods and having him executed upon delivering a letter to a foreign seneschal – fate seems contrived to bring about a wedding and generally felicitous outcomes.
4 ‘The Doom of King Acrisius’
A paragon of romantic tales, including a direful prophecy of death, a damsel entombed alive in a tower, the intervention of gods on her behalf, a half-divine offspring, a magical sword, cap, shield and shoes, Medusa: the snake-headed demon with power to turn men to stone, a beautiful girl chained to a rock, an ominous monster arising from the sea, and, the development of a Golden Age when ‘in no house was any sound of wrong’ and ‘so steeped the land was in felicity’. It is not surprising that, in an aside,m the narrator comments: that ‘longer men lived them by many a year’.
5 ‘The Proud King’
King Jovinius is so puffed up with his self importance that he feels he might as well be a god. Then, separated from his hunting party (a very old trope), he goes swimming, only to find his clothes and horse gone upon emerging from the water. Much to his surprise and acute discomfort, nobody recognizes that he is the king, and while spending more than half of the story naked and going to a stewards, to court, to a hermit’s hut and then to court again, he is finally apprised of the fact that some form of angel has made this all happen to make him realize his mortality and the wretch state of existence that lies under all our assumed clothing and social roles. Good story: strong theme.
7 ‘The Writing on the Image’
At only ten pages, the briefest of the tales so far, telling a largely predictable ‘be careful what you wish for’ story of a discovered treasure and a direful end. Edgar Allan Poe would have written it better, with more of the emotion attendant thereunto, whereas Morris sees quite matter of fact in his rhymed iambic pentameters.
9 ‘The Lady of the Land’
A Florentine knight lands on an unnamed island to discover a beautiful woman in a ruined castle who has been placed under a spell to be, except for one day a year, a fire-breathing dragon. Should he manage to kiss her while she in this dragon state, he will win not only her love but also immense wealth. Upon his return the next morning, he turns and flees at the dragon’s advance, runs back to his ship and down into the hold where, in a delirium, he dies three days later. Not your normal hero-rescuing-the-fair-maiden story, eh?
10 ‘The Son of Croesus’
Atys is the son of Croesus who has had repeated dreams that his son will die by iron. Taking all precautions, he still allows, after protestations by Atys himself, him to go on a boar hunt. He sends a friend with him to protect him, but events don’t turn out the way any of the parties had in mind. The final scene at the immolation is truly a sad one. Well told, and good to know that all stories aren’t of the ‘they lived happily ever after’ variety.
11 ‘The Watching of the Falcon’
Another rather depressing story, of a King who achieves his heart’s desire by watching a falcon for seven days and nights and seeing a beautiful woman appear, is granted his supreme wish. The brevity of his joy and satisfaction is emphasized by the familial, political, military and historic difficulties he later encounters. The closing lines resonate with Morris’ despair: ‘their hasty hearts are not/With foolish hate and longing vain/The sire and dam of grief and pain. Almost Buddhist in its seeming rejection of any sense of human longing.
13 ‘Ogier the Dane’
A truly amazing tale of the machinations of fays (fairies) who turn out to be from Avallon and led by Morgan le Fay. It is best thought of as a drama in several scenes, the first of which has a King weeping by the death bed of his Queen, while the new born babe is visited by five spirits who make him various promises of fame and honour. The last of these promises to be his love when he has accomplished all his mortal life encompasses. This comes to pass in the third scene, which follows Ogier’s shipwreck on a ‘loadstone isle’, from which he climbs down on to the broken staves of wrecked vessels in its shoreline rocks. He then is rescued by a boat without a rudder but with lovely cushions on which he reclines on his way to Avallon. He spends a hundred years there with the lovely spirit. The next scene involves his return to France, which is at that time besieged by heathen forces. He asks to be called the ‘Ancient Knight’, and the Queen there takes off his ring, causing him to age and wither drastically. Replacing the ring, she urges him to action, and he saves the country. Since France’s true king has been killed, people urge him to become their new king but after a year, he disappears in the mist accompanying by the spirit/woman who had come to him when he was born so many years and seeming ages ago. Truly a wonderful, lyrical, poetic vision of pure fantasy.
15 ‘The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon’
At approximately a hundred and twenty pages, this is the longest tale in the collection so far and the reader is more than amply rewarded for giving it the patience a careful reading of it requires. For here Morris really outdoes himself with his forte: romantic, lyrical description. There is relatively little ‘action’ in the story: a young farmer’s son falls in love with a mystical maiden who is transformed from a swan but who allows him to journey wither to her other-worldly home. He then returns after a few years, becomes the object of the affections of a girl who tragically sees him set off again to try to find his ethereal love. Upon seemingly endless seas and scaling a vast hillside through woods, he eventually encounters a village of beings who appear somewhat to be automatons; never smiling or showing distress, and never noticing or interacting with him. Eventually he finds his love, and a blissful transformation occurs, ending with ‘For more and more and more of love’ though the poet cannot resist adding another stanza which ends that ‘Love can ne’er be satisfied’. Gregory, the stargazer whose persona is responsible for this episodic idyll, himself concludes that although ‘twain grew one and came to bliss’, one should always remember that ‘Woe’s me a idle dream it is!’. It is in the descriptions: of the beauty of the swans, of the raiment of the girl, of the body of poor Thorgerd, of the vastness and placidity of the seas, of the quaintness of the alpine village, and of the ardent fervour of John’s love that Morris really could write well. He could grasp a vision of a landscape or of an emotion and frame in in words that almost cry out to be read aloud to fully appreciate their sonorous, romantic rhyme and cadence. His theme thus comes through with real power: to find true love is virtually to have to travel ‘east of the sun and west of the moon’.
17 ‘The Man Who Never Laughed Again’
At seventy odd pages, this tale is just long enough to sustain the reader’s interest over six major changes in plot and moon. There are even a couple of mysteries, which turn out to be essentially one and the same, and which I am quite pleased to announce I had figured out about ten to twenty pages before the truth was eventually revealed. Sad, apathetic, dispirited, wretchedly poor characters dominate the first couple of section, both when the main character Bharam meets a guide who leads him to a household of several such despondent figures. The changes which occur to them and the resultant effect this has on Bharam’s fortunes and mood are almost unbelievable, but one should always keep in mind the explanation he is never given. His sudden transition is truly marvelous, and the fateful challenge he is given by a Queen was easy to spot as a key turning point, resulting in the denouement which closes the story with a very satisfying explanation for the cause behind the situation expressed in its title. Plot over writing this time, but very well done.
19 ‘The Lovers of Gudrun’
At almost one hundred and ninety pages in length, this is the longest by far of all the tales in this work. In It, Morris seems to have let his unbounded love for the old Norse sagas thoroughly overwhelm his imaginative temperament. There are two households of respected patriarchs with strong sons, there is a mysterious visitor who casts a pall of dire predictions over several of the key personages, there is a strong fellowship of friendship between two cousins in one of the households, there is a voyage to Norway from Iceland and seemingly tense relations between the two kingdoms. But above all else, there is love: Kiartin, Gudrun, Bodli, Refna and Ingibiorg all have feelings one for the other that lead to misunderstood intentions, frustrated longings, unresolved desires and finally, an ending for which none of them could have wished. Well told, although the specific way in which the one critical marriage came about, being largely an ’off-screen’ occurrence, significantly lessened the dramatic import of the the feelings and actions to which it gave rise. Still, very well done.
21 ‘The Festering of Aslaug’
A fifty-five page Cinderella type story of the child of Sigurd and Brynhild who is spirited away by Heimar only to have him killed by a pair of truly despicable innkeepers who then raise her for almost twenty years ‘with little meat and lots of blows’. Her great beauty causes the crone at the inn to despise and even fear her. When a ship lands nearby and sailors take her to on board, the captain is overcome by her beauty. They kiss after only exchanging a few words, swearing their love for one another. Keeping some coolness of head, she bids him leave, which he grudgingly agrees to do, but when he returns a year later, she sails away with King Ragnar of the Danes after they have paid a very handsome amount to the murderous innkeeper and his wife. Okay, I guess, but I would have liked better vengeance for the murder of Heimar to have been enacted.
22 ‘Bellephoron at Argos’
Quite an engaging tale of a young man of Corinth who commits a murder through no fault of his own (blame the gods – again!) and is welcomed by the King of Argos as a close friend and ally. However, the King’s wife, Sthenoboea develops feelings for the young man which bring about quite dire consequences for all concerned, but especially for the Queen herself. Her selfish, malevolent, egotistical and passionate character is very well drawn. I found the ending somewhat anticlimactic until I observed that Bellephoron’s story will be picked up again in one of the three remaining tales of this work. Good.
23 ‘The Ring Given to Venus’
From what my limited efforts seem to indicate, an original story by Morris of Laurence, a bridegroom who places his ring on an old statue of Venus, chastising her for her loss of power since she can no longer lead men astray as she did Paris prior to the destruction of Troy. The dire consequences of this seemingly trivial action are chillingly described. The attempt to recover the ring involves the sacrifice of an aged astrologer, Polumbus, and a trip by Laurence to a land that seems to be somewhat like Purgatory, in which phantasmagorical visions pass by him prior to the chastening resolution of his dilemma. Quite well done; one of the best in the entire collection.
24 ‘Bellerophon at Lycia’
An interesting take on the Bellerophon story from The Iliad, with the hero subduing, in a different order from the original, the warlike Solymi, the unnamed Amazons, a sea-marauder and the unnamed Chimera, who at least is accurately detailed as being part lion, goat, dragon and serpent. The conflicting emotions of King Jobates on whether or not he should follow the injunction given him by the king of Argos to have the hero done to death, the suspicious feelings and murderous actions of an unnamed captain and the seemingly undying love of Philonoe, which oddly enough never seems to come to much are all interestingly developed. It’s as if, other than the dramatic spectacle of his subject material, Morris wasn’t quite sure what to make of the conflicting emotions of his characters. Even the dramatic highlights are strangely presented, as they usually occur offstage and are only related as recent events to non-participants back in Argos. Not bad.
Overall, somewhat tedious but nonetheless interesting.
May 11, 2020
People are on an earthly journey. They hope that eventually they will be in paradise. There they will discover immortality, perfect beauty, and the truth about life. Many believers see this place as heaven. In anticipation of this reality they talk about experiencing heaven on earth. Some refer to this place as the original Garden of Eden that once existed in the Middle East. This garden described in the Book of Genesis was destroyed by the Fall of Man.
The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870) is a four-volume collection of narrative poems written by William Morris. Its prologue described the flight of a band of Norse sailors in the Middle Ages from the Black Death, and their search for this glorious place. But isn’t heaven more than an earthly paradise? Whatever it truly is people are unable to comprehend.
The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870) is a four-volume collection of narrative poems written by William Morris. Its prologue described the flight of a band of Norse sailors in the Middle Ages from the Black Death, and their search for this glorious place. But isn’t heaven more than an earthly paradise? Whatever it truly is people are unable to comprehend.
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