Gabriela Lipson on Morris
Morris’s book is a work of fiction, but his detailed characters and settings made me forget at moments that his story operates within the frame of a dream. I really thought at moments that his Utopia was real.
William Morris’s book is an artfully-crafted social commentary on the Victorian Age that exudes romanticism, and it would have appealed to the marginalized masses through its sentiment for simpler times, free from machinery and the subjugation of labor.
Morris’s descriptions of rivers, towns, and nature reminded me very much of Shelley’s. Morris was evidently influenced by romanticism and the romantic writers before him. Morris writes “ There was a continuous garden in front of them, going down to the water’s edge, in which the flowers were now blooming luxuriantly, and sending delicious waves of summer scent over the eddying stream. Behind the houses, I could see great trees rising, mostly planes, and looking down the water there were the reaches towards..” ( Morris, News from Nowhere, Chapter 1).
This passage is similar to one in Frankenstein. In Chapter 22 of Frankenstien Shelley wrote, “The wind, which had hitherto carried us along with amazing rapidity, sank at sunset to a light breeze; the soft air just ruffled the water and caused a pleasant motion among the trees as we approached the shore, from which it wafted the most delightful scent of flowers and hay. The sun sank beneath the horizon as we landed, and as I touched the shore I felt those cares and fears revive which soon were to clasp me and cling to me forever.” ( Shelley, Frankenstein, Chapter 22) Images of rivers, streams, and flowers from both books collectively must have take readers far away from the bustling, foul smelling streets of the Victorian Age.
In Morris’s utopia, the sky is free of smoke and from imposing buildings and machines, and this would’ve appealed greatly to Victorian Londoners with their blackened lungs and busy skyline. When Morris asks about smoke, it is clear that he is still confused by his dream world. I find it quite comical when Morris forgets that he is in the future and outs himself with his questions and commentary.
“ ‘I see no smoke coming from the furnaces,’ said I. ‘Smoke?’ said Dick; ‘why should you see smoke?’ I held my tongue, and he went on: ‘It’s a nice place inside, though as plain as you see outside. As to the crafts, throwing the clay must be jolly work: the glass-blowing is rather a sweltering job; but some folk like it very much indeed; and I don’t much wonder: there is such a sense of power, when you have got deft in it, in dealing with the hot metal. It makes a lot of pleasant work,’” ( Morris, News from Nowhere, Chapter VII).
It seems like those in Morris’s world they even have moved completely moved away from metal ( maybe due to the fumes from the welding and melting process?). The Victorian industrial world was a world of imposing, cold metal like steam trains and steam boats, huge moving ” canisters” of transport. Morris’s world is a departure from that.
Morris’s work would have captured to the hearts of the working class. Morris deliberately describes the pleasant countenances of his characters in great detail, describing their feelings of happiness and fulfillment. “ He was a handsome young fellow, with a peculiarly pleasant and friendly look about his eyes,—an expression which was quite new to me then, though I soon became familiar with it. For the rest, he was dark-haired and berry-brown of skin, well-knit and strong, and obviously used to exercising his muscles, but with nothing rough or coarse about him, and clean as might be. His dress was not like any modern work-a-day clothes I had seen, but would have served very well as a costume for a picture of fourteenth century…He had a brown leather belt….I noticed that its clasp was of damascened steel beautifully wrought. In short, he seemed to be like some specially manly and refined young gentleman, playing waterman for a spree, and I concluded that this was the case.” ( Morris, News from Nowhere, Chapter 1)
Beleaguered factory workers of the Victorian Age showed signs of their toil in their soiled, sweaty clothes and on their hands; no such people exist in Morris’s world.People in Morris’s dream are well dressed. Happiness was also likely a foreign feeling to Victorian laborers who toiled for their survival, and these literary descriptions of dress and life must have led readers to feel like living in Morris’s world.
Some additional comments:
News From Nowhere was published in 1890, and its reference to the “ Bloody Sunday” riot would have appealed to all laborers. In the chapter entitled Trafalgar Square, a riot is mentioned. I found this article which describes the riot. ‘’On 13 November 1887 the Metropolitan Police conducted a savage attack on an unemployment demonstration in London. Marchers moving in columns from different parts of London were separately assaulted on the approaches to Trafalgar Square. They were beaten with truncheons and staves and driven into side streets. Their banners were seized, the poles smashed, and their flags torn up by policemen. Those who ran towards the square were charged down by police horses. Those few reaching it faced Life Guards with fixed bayonets. There were many arrests. Two men died later from their injuries. The episode was immediately dubbed ‘Bloody Sunday’.It was seen as a turning point for the new socialist movement for it introduced a harsher and more brutal dimension to their activities. The movement was young. The Democratic Federation had only been founded in 1884. It had soon become the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and in 1885 had suffered its first split when a group including William Morris, Eleanor Marx and Tom Mann had founded the Socialist League (SL). Members of both organisations also belonged to the Fabian Society, also formed in 1884. Non-socialist Radicals, Irish Nationalists and even some members of the Liberal Party were also involved. A new movement was defining itself. In short, the situation was fluid.” (John Carlton, Socialist review, http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr224/charlton.htm).
I wanted to have a discussion with you about the protagonist’s exchange with the old man in Trafalgar Square. I found it interesting that old man appeared to have empathy for those who carried out the acts of brutality ( the bludgeoners). Robert even acted surprised that the “bludgeoners” were arrested, what do you think of that? Here is the excerpt.
‘’The old man looked at me keenly, and said: ‘You seem to know a great deal about it, neighbour! And is it really true that nothing came of it?’ ‘This came of it,’ said I, ‘that a good many people were sent to prison because of it.’ ‘What, of the bludgeoners’ said the old man. ‘Poor devils!’ ‘No, no,’ said I, ‘of the bludgeoned.’”( Morris, News from Nowhere, Chapter 7)
Do you think Morris wants to imply, through the Old Man’s commentary, that in his dream world, all humans are inherently good and just, that violence and crime are products of the past and consequences of hierarchical systems that discriminate?
Another topic of discussion..,
The author himself went to architecture school before deciding to be an artisan and craftsman. He established a furnishing and art company, building his own house from ‘’scratch” where everything was hand-made, nothing was factory produced. Looking into the author’s life, there is much congruency with the book. (This video highlights Morris’s life and political views https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=17s&v=QiNFoJqOJhs)
What do we think about the education system in Morris’s world? It seems like Morris valued a good day’s work over an education; although, the book does describe the children of Morris’s dream world discovering language and reading a young age, only picking up what they have a natural affinity for.
I find this conversation to be very interesting because in Morris’s training to be an architect, he must’ve spent quite a lot of time learning maths though the characters in his world seem to downplay the importance of pursuits of the mind. Robert is teased. ‘’The fact is, I begin to think that you have so muddled your head with mathematics, and with grubbing into those idiotic old books about political economy (he he!), that you scarcely know how to behave. Really, it is about time for you to take to some open-air work, so that you may clear away the cobwebs from your brain.” ( Morris, News from Nowhere).
Thank you! I look forward to hearing from all of you. Have a wonderful week.
Gabriela
There is much to think about here, Gabriela!
I had not considered Morris as a romantic before (he seems to practical), but of course, he was. In a sense the entire utopia who creates for the future is based upon dreams (rather than realities) of the past. His focus on the hand-made is prevalent throughout the book, where machines are clearly suspect – if nothing else, they are symbols of where things went wrong.
I do want to comment on the educational system. Since the web, the idea has come up in education that our “industrial” model of education, based presumably on the idea of training workers for factories, is wrong, and that instead we should develop (un)curricula whereby students determine their own learning according to their interests. Although it seems to work out well in Morris’ world, where things are simplified, I have always had trouble applying it to now. Does such a system only work in a pre (or in this case) post-industrial world? Is there an argument to be made for learning things that you aren’t interested in, or don’t particularly have an aptitude for? To me, general education does that, and often provides pathways the student hasn’t thought of before. So I just wonder about this in the context of Morse.
I thought the old man at Trafalgar was pointing out that it was the bludgeoned who got taken to jail, and the ones doing the bludgeoning got away scott-free, and that although that was the norm, he found it ironic rather than supporting the idea?
I have trouble with this model of education too. So much of what we enjoy or what stimulates intellectual curiosity we find by accident. I think that general education, ideally, is important to give us a broader view of the world.
Thank you Professor Lane. Those are very interesting questions to consider
I think it’s very important to think about our education system, in the context of new technology and rapidly advancing artificial intelligence. Technology will eventually make some of our jobs obsolete.
I think our “industrial model” of education is not very effective in our time. We are training the next generation for jobs that potentially will not exist in the future due to advancing artificial intelligence, mechanization, and robotics. I like to ask questions like, what’s the point of stressing route memorization in school? A computer can hold more information and retrieve that information with more speed and accuracy than a human brain can.
Why does a child have to memorize all the states and capitals when they could simply pull up a map on their phone, and a computer could retrieve and store that information. How can our education system evolve to incorporate technology today?
Then I wonder… What do humans uniquely do well? It seems like Morris was asking the same question. What do humans do uniquely well? He answers this question by valuing the heart and character people put into their craftsmanship and work.. I think that in this day and age there will be a wide-scale return to something like romanticism, in our increasingly electronic, world much like how romanticism evolved as a response to the industrial revolution.
I think that in this ever-changing world, many of that the careers that my generation will go into do not yet exist. I think a liberal arts education with general education requirements is important because studying many different subjects nurtures one’s ability to think divergently– to examine and build upon inherited knowledge.
And yes! Through a second read through it does appear that he found it to be ironic.