A Selection from the Poems of William Morris

William Morris turned Victorian poetry toward the medieval past, and in doing so, he invented something new. This selection gathers his most evocative work: poems that pluck Arthurian legends from history and remake them in lush, muscular verse that feels both ancient and startlingly modern. Here is Guenevere defending her love against accusation, Lancelot in his sorrow, and unnamed queens wandering through landscapes where beauty and death intertwine. Morris drew on the well-springs of classical myth and medieval romance, but his voice is distinctly his own, musical,决绝, unafraid of sensuality. These are poems about the ache of beauty, the transience of joy, and the way love and loyalty can destroy as easily as they sustain. For readers who have ever ached for a world of tournaments and Grail quests, but wanted it rendered with genuine literary power, Morris delivers that world entire. The collection spans his earlier work, showing a poet in full command of his craft, intoxicated with language and the past.