William Morris

Drawing on medieval legend and age-old fantasy tropes, William Morris' Water of the Wondrous Isles combines the best of both of these genres and updates them with an interesting thematic twist: the heroic figure who leads the quest is a plucky, spirited young girl. Fans of classic fantasy will relish this exquisitely wrought tale

Credited with inspiring such fantasy luminaries as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, William Morris' The Well at the World's End follows the travels of a prince, Ralph of Upmeads, who undertakes a journey to find the magical well of the title. Along the way, our hero encounters adventure, travails, and romance. A must-read for fans of classic quest stories.

When Morris published this epic tale of great love and heroic battles he intended it as a kind of sequel to The House of the Wolfings, but this novel has far greater scope and depth. The time is later than that of Wolfings, and now the people are faced with enslaving Huns. Here, Morris explores more fully than ever before the roots of desire and consciousness by creating a reality more of the imagination, further removed from the world as we know it. Roots is the last of his romances to have ties with recorded history - bridge into the full-flown adult fantasy novels to follow. Said to have been one of the source materials upon which J. R. R. Tolkien drew when creating his beloved Lord of the Rings series, The Roots of the Mountains is a classic fantasy that takes place on an epic scale. Two civilizations are drawn together by a pair of star-crossed lovers - and by the threat of an encroaching enemy that could destroy the world as they know it

This is the Longman edition in which some passages were replaced with prose summaries by Winifred Turner and Helen Scott. Son of King Sigmund, young Sigurd is taught the ways of kings by the ancient, mysterious Regin - who then sets him upon the seemingly impossible task: to steal the divine armor guarded by the Wallower on the Gold - the great serpent Fafnir. Astride the war-steed Grayfell and armed with a sword named the Wrath of Sigurd, the young hero crosses the Glittering Heath in pursuit of peril, glory - and the Treasure of Andvari

The use of astrological cycles to enhance therapeutic outcomes with acupuncture, herbs, acutonics, soundhealing and naturopathy. People who will find this book useful include: massage therapists, astrologers, acupuncturists, naturopaths, and physical therapists.

THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN - A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN.. With original illustrations. The famous 19th century English designer, artist and writer William Morris had an enormous influence on Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien was two years old when the illustrated edition of The Glittering Plain was published in 1894, complete with decorated borders and capitals by Morris and richly detailed woodcuts by Walter Crane. This new edition is a close replica of that very book, with more than 700 exquisite graphic images woven into the layout. The story is a fantasy, telling of the journey of Hallblithe, a young man on an epic quest to rescue his love. During Tolkien's youth he read Morris's works, enjoying both the stories and the pictures. Fantasy and medieval literature specialist Douglas A. Anderson writes in 'Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy', 'William Morris was an enormous influence on Tolkien in terms of the general shape of his literary interests. Tolkien discovered Morris's translations in his teens, and his interest in Morris deepened at Exeter College, Oxford, where Morris had also been an undergraduate. Tolkien's earliest stories of his Middle Earth legendarium, published posthumously as The Book of Lost Tales, show a decided influence of Morris in their archaism and style.'When Tolkien was twenty-two he revealed, in a letter to his sweetheart Edith (later his wife), 'Amongst other work I am trying to turn one of the short stories of the Finnish Kalevala] ... into a short story somewhat on the lines of Morris's romances with chunks of poetry in between.'In 1960 he was still acknowledging his debt of inspiration to Morris, noting, 'The Lord of the Rings was actually begun, as a separate thing, about 1937, and had reached the inn at Bree, before the shadow of the second war. . . . The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns and Romans, as in The House of the Wolfings or The Roots of the Mountains.'Mary Podles, in her article 'Tolkien & the New Art: Visual Sources for The Lord of the Rings', says, 'We know from Tolkien's letters and various commentaries that William] Morris's literary works had a profound influence on Tolkien...''The Story of the Glittering Plain' is one of several William Morris works known to have inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's creation of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings'.

The Story of the Volsungs is an epic work by William Morris, numbering over 10,000 lines and notable for inspiring the high fantasy literature of J. R. R. Tolkien and other famous authors. In his lifetime, Morris was praised by contemporaries for this poem, inspired by the existing legends of Nibelungenlied and the Volsungs, dating to the Middle Ages. The warrior society these tales depict are thought to have a reasonable measure of grounding in the reality of Nordic life as it was during antiquity; a martial culture, where strength and iron playing their pivotal part. We are introduced to the legend with a wedding; King Volsung's daughter Signy marries Siggeir, king of the Goths. However the God Odin, disguised as an elderly man of benign appearance, enters the ceremony and drives a blade into a tree trunk. Inviting everyone in the room to draw their swords in response, it is to the shock of those attending the ceremony that only Sigmund, a young and otherwise undistinguished man, is able to do so.

The Story of the Volsungs is an epic work by William Morris, numbering over 10,000 lines and notable for inspiring the high fantasy literature of J. R. R. Tolkien and other famous authors. In his lifetime, Morris was praised by contemporaries for this poem, inspired by the existing legends of Nibelungenlied and the Volsungs, dating to the Middle Ages. The warrior society these tales depict are thought to have a reasonable measure of grounding in the reality of Nordic life as it was during antiquity; a martial culture, where strength and iron playing their pivotal part. We are introduced to the legend with a wedding; King Volsung's daughter Signy marries Siggeir, king of the Goths. However the God Odin, disguised as an elderly man of benign appearance, enters the ceremony and drives a blade into a tree trunk. Inviting everyone in the room to draw their swords in response, it is to the shock of those attending the ceremony that only Sigmund, a young and otherwise undistinguished man, is able to do so.