Showing results by author "William Morris" in All Categories

A celebration of one of the world's best loved actors, Sir John Gielgud. Here you can hear him perform his classic roles and read some of his favourite poetry.

March - the third month of the year in the Gregorian calendar brings with it the Spring Equinox and the promise of warmer days and shorter nights. Our selected poets, including Swift, Yeats, Morris, Swinburne, and Austin, of course provide the words to match the mood.

William Morris was born in Walthamstow, London, on 24 March 1834 and is regarded today as a foremost poet, writer, textile designer, artist and libertarian. Morris began to publish poetry and short stories in 1856. Morris' fascination with the ancient Germanic and Norse peoples dominated his writing, and he was the first to translate many of the Icelandic sagas into English. He also published limited-edition illuminated style books, with his design for The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer standing out.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood began as a group of painters, including Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, who wished to reject the stern and academic strictures of current painting and return to the simpler and more uncomplicated days before the Italian High Renaissance and the days of Raphael. The movement was short lived but very influential and, as well, was taken up by a number of different arts.

News from Nowhere (1890) is a seminal work that weaves together utopian socialism and gentle science fiction, crafted by the visionary artist and socialist pioneer William Morris. The narrative follows William Guest, who, after attending a meeting of the Socialist League, drifts into a dream-like future where society thrives on shared ownership and democratic control of production. In this idyllic world, there is no private property, towering cities, or forms of authority‚Aîmoney, divorce, courts, prisons, and class distinctions are absent. Instead, this agrarian community flourishes as its...

Welcome to Volume VIII of the National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs series. Journey with us through 33 sections, each dedicated to an integral aspect of the life of John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). Powell was a pioneering figure in the geological explorations of the West, and the driving force behind the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. A strong advocate for Native American tribes and culture, Powell led the Bureau of Ethnology with a passionate spirit. He penned a comprehensive study of the western U.S., championing careful irrigation and land conservation. His ...

The birth of liberation movements in the C19th saw a rise in fighting for the rights of workers. William Morris believed decries the belief “not that Commerce was made for man, but that man was made for Commerce”, with the profit motive that renders all work miserable when “It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should be done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious.”

This is Volume VIII of the National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs series. It is read as 33 sections using the memoir headings. John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was a leading figure in the geological explorations of the West and helped establish the federal U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. He also led the Bureau of Ethnology and advocated for better treatment and study of Native American tribes and culture. He wrote a definitive study of the arid western U.S., advocating for thoughtful irrigation and land management practices. Powell predicted that water rights purchased by corporations...

Step into the enchanting world of The Hollow Land by William Morris, narrated by Christopher Mireider. This timeless medieval fantasy tells the tale of a mystical quest through lush forests, ivy-clad castles, and an otherworldly land hidden beyond the horizon. Filled with themes of chivalry, romance, and adventure, Morris’s richly descriptive prose invites listeners into a dreamlike landscape where courage and destiny intertwine.