2005/03/01 by Stephen F. Eisenman · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Fashion and Cultural Textiles #Art, Politics, and Modernism #Art History and Market Analysis #Dream #Communism #Art history #Prehistory #Art #Politics #Consciousness #History #Philosophy #Psychology #Archaeology #Law
paper · doi:10.1080/00043079.2005.10786230
openalex publication_date 2005/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
William Morris was engaged in most major political causes of his day, yet his writing and designs are marked by archaism. Influenced by Morgan and Engels, Morris believed that history progressed in an upward spiral, with a “backward as well as forward movement.” Thus, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, the subject of Morris's novel A Dream of John Ball and Burne-Jones's etching, left a profound imprint on the consciousness of later revolutionaries. The medieval ideal of primitive communism, expressed in the stories and images surrounding the preacher Ball, survived to inspire Morris and the men and women of his day.