A study of 'The life and death of Jason', The earthly paradise', Sigurd the Volsung', with special reference to Morris's treatment of his sources

• Main Author: Arscott, Christine Marguerite
• Published: University of London 1928
• Subjects: 840
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.487426

In 1917 I was awarded-the London M.A. degree for a thesis entitled; "A Study of Some of the Influences traceable in the Poetry of William Morris, " and was recommended by my tutor (Mr. A. J. Wyatt) and by the examiners(Professors Herford and Sedgefield) to make a further development-of my subject. It was easy to decide which direction to take, for, having found my material enormous, I had concentrated an "The Early Romances". and "Sigurd the Volsung" dealing but slightly with"The Life and Death of Jason" and "The Earthly Paradise" I therefore began to investigate more fully the tales to which Morris turned his attention after the publication of his first volume of prose and verse, and to study therein his treatment of his sources. But Morris had read everything- Greek, Norse, Medieval, Modern - and wrote voluminously, so that, as "The Life and Death of Jason" grew too long to be included in "The Earthly Paradise," so my study grew too long to present as an examination That is why I am now offering, instead of a study of poetical works as a whole, a study of only three of them,, and am omitting "The Early Romances," "Love is Enough," "Poems by, the Way," and "Scenes from the Fall of Troy." I think it-advisable" however to make first a brief comment on the influences I discover, in "The Early Romances, " because though many of them, cease to be-separately discernible, in the later works, they could never be utterly lost. Perhaps my subject need some apology, for there is a feeling abroad against the effort to account for this or that quality of a poet's work; and certainly much passion has been wasted in, such, exercises, and a good many unsubstantial conclusions reached. But my opinion on this matter is that of St. John Lucas, who says, "Nothing can be drearier than to regard any great work of art as a punctual flower on a particular branch of a vast genealogical tree. Yet it is well to remember that we may find one at any rate' of the many keys which "unlock the heart" of a great poet hidden away amid even the rubbish and lumber left by his predecessors that a knowledge of the intellectual and artistic tendencies of his age may give us a fuller insight into his own mental processes, enabling us to distinguish between that which is excrescent, and showing us exactly where he broke away from old conventions and became unique."