An examination of how greatly the sagas and other literature of Iceland shaped the poems of William Morris. The work of William Morris (1834-1896) was hugely influenced by the medieval sagas and poetry of Iceland; in particular, they inspired his long poems "The Lovers of Gudrun" and Sigurd the Volsung. Between 1868 and 1876, Morris not only translated several major sagas into English for the first time with his collaborator the Icelander Eiríkur Magnússon (1833-1913) but he also travelled on horseback twice across the Icelandic interior, journeys which led him through the best known of the saga sites. By looking closely at his translations of the sagas and the texts on which he based them, the journals of his travels in Iceland, and his saga-inspired long poems and lyric poetry, this book shows how Morris conceived a unique ideal of heroism through engaging with Icelandic literature. It shows the sagas and poetry of Iceland as crucial in shaping his view of the best life a man could live and spurring him on in the subsequent passions on which much of his legacy rests. IAN FELCE gained his PhD from Cambridge University.

"Felce gives a nuanced and persuasive account of Morris' personal development toward atheism and socialism through his reading and rewriting of medieval Icelandic literature." - MEDIEVALLY SPEAKING

"Felce's immaculate introductory account of Old Norse saga literature should be required reading for all aspiring Morris scholars." - TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

"Morris contributed immensely to the knowledge and dissemination of the literature and culture of medieval Iceland, restoring to England, he believed, its northern heritage, a contribution Felce succeeds in explaining with scholarly detail, sensitive argument, cogent examples, and wide references to previous scholarship." - REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES

"Felce makes a strong case that during his first 'Norse period', Morris developed via his encounters with Norse literature an ideal of heroism and secular endurance and action that profoundly affected his subsequent life and social engagement." - ENGLISH