Morris, William

poet, art-worker, and Socialist, born in Walthamstow, near London, son and heir of a wealthy merchant; studied at Oxford, where he became the lifelong bosom friend of Burne-Jones; of an artistic temperament, he devoted his working hours to decorative art, in particular designing wall-papers; produced in 1858 "The Defence of Guenevere and other Poems," in 1867 "The Life and Death of Jason," and from 1868 to 1870 his masterpiece, "The Earthly Paradise" ( q. v .); among other works he translated the "Æneid" and the "Ody ey," and gave a splendid rendering of some of the Norse legends (1834-1896).