Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1895 — WILLIAM MORRIS, POET, DESIGNER, AND PHILOSOPHER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WILLIAM MORRIS, POET, DESIGNER, AND PHILOSOPHER.

There Is no so little understood a man In the literary world of London as William Morris, who has been spoken of lately In connection with the post of poet laureate. It Is because he is so many-sided a man that he is known neither by his countrymen nor by Americans. If he were only a mere poet It would be easy to write of him—to make an estimate and properly classify him—but he is a larger figure in life than he Is in literature, and he therefore belongs to the future rather than to the present in the way of criticism. He is spoken of indiscriminately as a socialist, as a designer of furniture and wall paper, and as a poet. At Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, he designs

esthetic wall papers for which he is deservedly famous, and the Kelmscott Press, which he conducts, is noted for the beautiful books which it produces. An American woman, Emma Lazarus, wrote of him a few years ago: “For himself he eschews wealth and luxury, which are within easy reach of his versatile and brilliant talents, in order that for a few at least of his brother men he may rob toil of its drudgery, servitude of its sting, and poverty of Its horrors.” Though he seems to be set nowadays on winning laurels as a designer and publisher, William Morris has a long and brilliant record as a poet His first book of verse, “The Defense of Guinevere and Other Poems,”! was published as far back as 1858.