A Tale Of The House Of The Wolfings And All The Kindreds Of the Mark Written In Prose And In Verse

By William Morris

A beautifully translated Scandinavian epic poem. Full of stark beauty, heroes and heroines, this is a real treat for any fan of Icelandic literature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hamlin Press
• Release date: Apr 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473387126

William Morris

William Morris (1834-1896) was an accomplished writer, textile designer and artist. A utopian socialist, he was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Craft Movement, and was a founding member of the Socialist League in Britain. Greatly influenced by the medieval period, Morris helped establish the modern fantasy genre though his works The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems, A Dream of John Ball, and The Well at the World’s End. Authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were greatly influenced by works like The House of the Wolfings, The Roots of the Mountains, and The Wood Beyond the World. Morris was also an accomplished publisher, founding the Kelmscott Press in 1891, whose 1896 edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.

Reviews for A Tale Of The House Of The Wolfings And All The Kindreds Of the Mark Written In Prose And In Verse

[sylvester_olson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ya know how documents, museum exhibits, and nonfiction books occasionally frame their expository information in the form of narratives? For instance, a museum exhibit featuring cavemen might trace the life of a child through sequential displays, or a documentary might name an animal and follow it over the course of ninety minutes. In each case, the purpose of the narrative isn't really to tell a good story for story's sake, but to provide a framework in which the audience can follow along, making the factual expository information more palatable. That's pretty much how I felt while reading The House of the Wolfings. William Morris's agenda seems to be to explore the world and lifestyle of ancient Teutonic peoples, with characterization and plot coming second to that. There's nothing wrong with it, and I anticipate reading it again at some point in the future. The light touches of fantasy, such as the dwarf-forged hauberk, were perhaps the most interesting of Morris's flourishes. But essentially this is a novel written for another age, the nineteenth century, when people had fewer resources at their hands to learn about the pre-Westernized word of Northern Europe. In modern times, I don't see much of a purpose for it.

[loptsson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An idealized account of the lives of the Germanic Gothic tribes. It is very engrossing if you can get yourself into the flow of the story, very poetic. I really enjoyed it but I feel that many today would find it rather out of fashion or to romanticly inclined in vision. I would say, though, give it a chance for a few chapters if you are not hooked by then you never will be.

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I still recall the encounter of these noble Germanic tribesmen with the "Welsh" (used in the original sense as foreigners, i.e. Romans)

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Disappointingly, I found this fairly boring on the whole (war stories just don't do it for me) but interesting in the context that Tolkien referred to this book specifically as an inspiration, and you can really see that in a lot of places.