William Morris, The Well at the World's End

Robert Boenig (Texas A&M University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1896

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Romance

Resources

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Published in 1896,

The Well at the World's End

is the longest of the remarkable series of eight prose romances that William Morris produced in the last decade of his life. Its plot is complex, but the psychology of its characters is even more complex. Though Morris's

The Water of the Wondrous Isles

(1897) relies more on medieval ideas about Courtly Love than does

The Well at the World's End

, the latter book is arguably the more chivalric, for at its center are the adventurous wanderings of a knight errant through a forest and wasteland where the marvelous may intrude on everyday life. Its hero, the prince Ralph of Upmeads, is engaged in a dual quest to rescue a maiden and find the Well at the World's End, a drink of which will bestow prosperity and enduring youth. The book features seers…

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4402 words

Citation: Boenig, Robert. "The Well at the World's End". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 July 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21573, accessed 22 November 2024.]

William Morris, The Well at the World's End

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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