Hopes and Fears for Art

William Morris was born in 1834 in Walthamstow, England. He was one of the great all-rounders, such as a poet, painter, author, translator, political scholar, social reformer, designer, and publisher. The organisations and movements he established ranged from the Arts and Crafts Movement to the Socialist Federation to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He started his writing career at Oxford University, where he contributed to and funded the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. After the Socialist League moved too far from Morris's brand of freedom socialism for him to stay a part of it, he dedicated himself to writing. Initially, these were stories of ancient Germanic legends, and then "Here Be Dragons" became a series of completely fantasy novels, beginning with The Wood Beyond the World and also The Well at the World's End.