The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems

And ever the great bell overhead
Boom'd in the wind a knell for the dead --
Though no one toll'd it, a knell for the dead!
-- "The Blue Closet"

William Morris (1834-1896), author of such prose romances as The Well at the World's End, was early associated with the Pre-Raphaelites -- as is nowhere more evident than in the Medievalist verses and verse-dramas in his earliest collection of poetry, The Defense of Guenevere, and Other Poems.

Here Morris explores many of the ideas and themes that would provide continued inspiration throughout his long and influential career -- especially those arising out of the Arthurian tradition, such as "King Arthur's Tomb," and "Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery."