William Morris, Chants for Socialists

Robert Boenig (Texas A&M University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1884 - 1885

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

William Morris occasionally fretted about the social utility of his work. In the opening poem of The Earthly Paradise (1868), for instance, he terms himself “the idle singer of an empty day” who was “born out of [his] due time”. He once complained to Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, the rich Yorkshire iron magnate who was a client of Morris & Co., “I spend my life ministering to the swinish luxury of the rich”. Perhaps it was a relief for him to realize in the 1880s that he could offer his talents to the socialist cause not only by producing some designs, like the one he created in 1883 for the membership card of The Democratic Federation, but more importantly by writing rousing popular poetry useful for socialist meetings a…

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1647 words

Citation: Boenig, Robert. "Chants for Socialists". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6074, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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