Notes on [[How We Might Live (2022)]] #### Preface “Jane’s life was just as radical as William’s.” p. 1 “At every stage, Jane and William tried to create wholehearted practical refuges from strife and wearisomeness of modern life.” p. 3 William Morris, “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” p. 4 [[The Aims of Art (1886)]] [[Edward Burne-Jones]]: “When I first knew Morris nothing would content him but being a monk, and then he must be an architect, but when I came to London and began to paint, he threw it all up and must paint too, and then he must give it up and make poems, and then he must give it up and make window hangings and pretty things, and when he had achieved that he must be poet again, and then he must learn dyeing and lived in a vat and learned weaving and knew all about looms, and then made more books and learned tapestry, and then wanted to smash everything up and begin the world anew, and now it is printing he cares for and to make wonderful rich-looking books: and all things he does splendidly: and if he lives the printing will have an end, and he will do, I do't know what, but every minute will be alive?” p. 6 #### Epping Forest (William’s Childhood) One of his childhood homes opened up onto Epping Forest which was mysterious due to being regularly pollarded for fire wood. ![[Reference-Epping-Forest-UK.jpeg]] Image source: [Michael Shann](https://www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2023/7/7/leaving-epping) “He claimed that he learnt to read when he was little more than a toddler, and to have worked his way through Walter Scott’s novels by the time he was seven.” p. 11 (see also: [[Robert Jordan]] as an early & precocious reader) His mother “feared his health was delicate.” p. 11 “every word spoken and gesture made, coming up clear into his memory” p. 13 The Novel on Blue Paper Reference to being fidgety and struggling with spelling. Both neurodivergent traits. “I had a hardish time of it, as chaps who have brains and feelings generally do at school.” p. 18 (citation 22) ![[Reference-Avebury-UK.webp]] Avebury Stone Circles (Image: [National Trust](https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wiltshire/avebury/exploring-the-stone-circles-at-avebury)) #### Oxford The opening to this chapter talks about existing in two times - which I also felt in certain places in Britain. ![[Reference-Oxford-Divinity-School.jpeg]] It mentioned in particular the medieval arcade - which is an architectural term. This image is Bodleian Library, Oxford Divinity School. “An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers.” (Wikipedia, Image [Wiki Commons](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Divinity_School_Interior_1,_Bodleian_Library,_Oxford,_UK_-_Diliff.jpg#mw-jump-to-license)) More neurodivergent behaviors, “Burne-Jones went on, though, to draw attention again to William's boisterous mad outbursts and freaks, his uncontrolled body breaking the spell.' There was always this ingrained tension between the energy of William's actions - his 'habit of beating his own head, his violence when fencing at singlestick, even his prodigious bouncing hair - and his reflective inner life.” p. 33 (via Life of William Morris by William Mackail) ![[Public-Domain-BrassRubbing-Oxford.jpeg]] [Brass rubbings from Oxford](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?q=Brass%20rubbing&page=1&page_size=15&id_place=x29444) these & more probably hung in William Morris university room via [[How We Might Live (2022)]] p. 36 [Brass Rubbing Process](https://youtu.be/4WtoiijGCs8?si=5KJrROt0ixixWLOS) (1961) There is also mention of a print of “Vision of St. Hubert” by [[Albrecht Dürer]]. ![[Art-History-Durer-St-Hubert.jpeg]] #### Red Lion Square ![[Reference-Edmund-Jones-Red-Lion.jpeg]] This self portrait / caricature of Edmund Jones is encouraging because of all the creative chaos. The Hollow Land - an early Fantasy described by authors of this book as an artistic hero’s journey. p. 50-53 “I see that things are in a muddle… My work is the embodiment of dreams in one form or another.” p. 53 (source 15) “my chances are slender; I am glad that I am compelled to try anyhow.” p. 54 The new place was decorated again with brass rubbings and Dürer prints. Then William started buying paintings like April Love by [Arthur Hughes] a Pre-Raphaelite. ![[Art-History-April-Love-Arthur-Hughes.jpeg]] “Burne-Jones recalled how 'one morning, after breakfast, (Morris) brought me in the first poem he ever made. After that, no week went by without some poem.” p. 38 (reference 28) “But he intended, as he told his mother, to make himself useful: he would still strive, as he put it, for the bettering of the World.” p. 43 “His drawings were overseen by Philip Webb, the son of an Oxfordshire doctor, who had grown up in the city centre. His relationship with Oxford - its buildings, its cobbled lanes - was even more intense than William's. Webb asked a friend, many years later, if he had seen a little and wonderstruck boy in Oxford trotting along the pavements of the streets there, (for) it might have been the ghost of my youth'» Webb was significantly older than William; he was born in 1821. And yet, they developed a great friendship. 'Morris understands me, Webb said, and... it has been a great corrective to rub shoulders with his hearty love-of-lifedness?” p. 43 (reference 52) “To give form to my discontent.” p. 66 “mere segments of men, broken into small fragments and crumbs of life” [[Ruskin]] through the division of labor p. 66 “He was over-active, loud and bustling.” p. 91 [[Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal]] model of Ophelia & artist in her own right. ![[Art-History-Ruskin-Siddal-Ophelia.webp]] Chronically ill & told her creative work was making her sick. She wouldn’t stop. ![[Art-History-Ruskin-Siddal-Ophelia2.webp]] Some examples of her work can be found [here](https://www.notion.so/Beyond-Ophelia-A-Celebration-of-Lizzie-Siddal-Artist-and-Poet-2e6b0805aa9e4887bb852206b56bf84c?pvs=4). Such as this sketch of Sir Galahad. ![[Art-History-Siddal-Drawing.jpeg]] Jane Morris around time of engagement p. 103 ![[Art-History-Jane-Morris.jpeg]] Image Source: [V&A](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1092320/jane-morris-posed-by-rossetti-photograph-parsons-john-r/) (1865, Accession Number: 1752-1939) More evidence of William Morris as neurodivergent: > He added, 'both tables were bound round the edge with scoured iron fixed with clout-headed nails, to keep the impatient from whittling away the edge?? William was very heavy-handed with the furniture in his house. He broke chairs with his constant restless wriggling. He stuck forks into the wooden table-top when dinner-time debates became heated. And he evidently could not be trusted with his knife either. p. 154 > William's description of his ideal domestic space: it 'ought to look as if some kind of work could be done in it less toilsome than being bored? p. 182 > William struggled with the enforced leisure, complaining of sulks and the fidgetts, and "a fit of dumps at Janey getting worse now and then” p. 204 And Jane. Her health is often in question and she shows signs of chronic illness / pain. > The impression of Jane as a semi-permanent invalid began around this time.” p. 203 > She lived with chronic back pain that sometimes limited her movement. p. 203 pg. 175-176 More evidence of meltdowns or stimming. > William was worried that he was in some way responsible for Jenny's condition. It seems that his mother had suffered from mild seizures. And he was known for his own sudden unconscious actions - buffeting his own head, raging, apparently oblivious to those around him. His friends had noticed, even when he was quite young, that he could lose control. As an undergraduate, for example, Richard Watson Dixon witnessed one of his storms': I was made aware of a fearful cry in my ears, and saw Morris "translated". It lasted all the way home...I wanted to get him some wine: but he said he was all right? 1a Was it possible that Jenny had inherited her condition from him? p. 271 This segment regarding Morris “performative” need to get his hands into the dying process totally misinterprets his neurodivergent and kinesthetic learning style. > William steeped himself in the history and technicalities of textile production. He sent Wardle a sixteenth-century copy of Gerard's Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. It had been a favourite book since his boyhood, and it contained 'useful information about certain disused vegetable dyes. And from the early months of 1876, he was paying extended visits to the Staffordshire works, to learn the trade. > > He was keen to get his hands dirty. His eagerness to plunge into the dye vat was almost performative - as if he wanted to prove his worth to the working men who watched him. > This is where we find some of the most characteristic images of William, in his smock and clogs, blue to the elbow. He told Georgie Burne-Jones he was taking in dyeing at every pore (otherwise than by the skin of my hands, which is certain). As he told her, "You know I like that?» This was a time of great inventiveness. p. 262 (is this Edward Carpenter?) > Inspired by William, and mentored by Carpenter, projects like the Guild of Handicraft continued to marry art and social reform, well into the twentieth century. They looked to the Cotswolds, to the small towns beyond Kelmscott, as a refuge from life and work in London. > Other entrepreneurs were trying to transform the experience of living in the metropolis. Rather than decamping to the countryside, they integrated green spaces with new housing. Barely a year after William wrote his letter about living in little communities among gardens and green fields, Jonathan Carr began developing his own garden suburb at Bedford Park. p. 266 > In the early spring of 1873, William was clearly worried about money. > > I am working very hard at one thing or another he explained to Aglaia, I should very much like to make the business quite a suc-cess... a smash in that side would be a terrible nuisance; I have so many serious troubles, pleasures, hopes & fears that I have not time on my hands to be ruined and get really poor: above all things it would destroy my freedom of work which is a dear delight to me. p. 287 > William was writing as Secretary of the newly formed Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. (He usually referred to it as Anti-Scrape.) This was his first foray into public activism. But it began as a very personal project, as he cajoled friends to join him in campaigning against the aggressive remodelling of old buildings in the name of restoration. Philip Webb was there on the committee with William, at the first meeting, held at Queen Square in March1877. > > He persuaded Ned to sign up too, and George Howard and Thomas Wardle. Morris looked to John Ruskin for support, asking him in July if he could reprint a passage from Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture, which had advocated day-to-day repair rather than over-zealous remodelling, stripping and cleaning: 'Take proper care of your monuments, and you will not need to restore them... do this tenderly, reverently, continually?* William reassured Ruskin that I feel ashamed at having to say anything else about it, as if the idea was an original one of mine, or any body else's but yours: but I suppose it is of service, or may be, for different people to say the same thing? 20 > Both Ruskin and Morris were coming to the same conclusion: that a tenderness towards the art of the past, a care for authentic handwork, were not simply aesthetic concerns. Their study of art led them to agitate for political and social change. They saw the need for freedom of expression, access to nature, pleasing domestic design and architecture: they also knew these things would be beyond the reach of most people under the current systems of production and con-sumption. p. 306 > All too often, William has been portrayed as the rebellious one in their partnership. But in this letter, we hear Jane's own defiant voice. > This was the spirited side of her character, the woman who roared with laughing?" She was happy to sit in a tree with a book of poetry, not from idleness, but from a desire to 'keep up my old habit of reading every scrap that comes in my way?*' She was open-minded, eager for knowledge, amusing. And willing to take on the challenges of a big house in need of renovation, while her husband ploughed on with his new projects. p. 325 > William was convinced, as he said, that 'it is not possible to dissociate art from morality, politics and religion?"s It is all connected - how we decorate our houses, treat our workers, ply our trade. These things show what we value in the world. p. 327 > William acknowledged that in any society, in any work, there were difficult or tedious jobs to be done. But at present, 'the blindness and hurry of civilisation' led to 'that enormous amount of pleasureless work - work that tries every muscle of the body and every atom of the brain, and which is done without pleasure and without aim?? He pointed to the wastefulness of 'the toils which makes a thousand and one things which nobody wants, which are used merely as the counters for competitive buying and selling? > This was much more degrading than the 'rough labour' that kept the world turning - to plough the earth, to cast the net, to fold the flock... carried many hardships, but would be good enough > 'for the best of us' given 'certain conditions of leisure, freedom and due wages. Similarly, in a more equitable society, 'the bricklayer, the mason and the like - these would be artists, and doing not only necessary but beautiful and happy work'7s It all comes back to beauty and pleasure. William believed that his audience felt like him - that making art is the thing that we love ... the bread we eat and the air we breathe?® He wanted all workers to relish and use their natural gifts, as horses love to run, and birds to fly. > He was hoping for a new system of production which was in tune with nature, as'the earth and the very elements rejoice in doing their appointed work... as the spring meadows smiling, (and) ... the countless laughter of the sea?? # TRY TO FIND IMAGES OF JANE’s COMMONPLACE BOOKS ![[Cover-Interior-How-We-Might-live.jpeg]] ![[Jane-Morris-Commonplace-Books.pdf]] p. 352 >  he said to Georgie, it seems to me that the real way to enjoy life is to accept all its necessary ordinary details and turn them into pleasures by taking interest in them? He blamed modern life for the tendency to 'huddle them out of the way, have them done in a venal and slovenly manner till they become real drudgery. > > Finding beauty in the daily, homely tasks - this was at the heart of William's work. It tied together his desire to improve the lives of all workers, and to create delightful decorative objects, filled with natural. forms and made in humane conditions. p. 354 > to keep the air pure and the rivers dean, to take some ais to kep the meadows and tillage as pleasant as reasonable use wil aloy them to be; to allow peaceable citizens freedom to wander where they will, so they do no hurt to garden or cornfield; nay, even to leave here and there some piece of waste or mountain sacredly free from fence or tillage. 23 > William's call to action emphasised the need for a sustainable agricul. tural landscape alongside areas of wilderness. He advocated the Right to Roam, nearly fifty years before the mass trespass of Kinder Scout. He insisted that those who bore such heavy tasks of grinding labour' were most in need of leisure and green space. He saw that his generation were surely and not slowly destroying the beauty of the very face of the earth. > To William, 'The very essence of competitive commerce is waste; the waste that comes from the anarchy of war' Capitalism looked tidy and well regimented from the outside, he argued: "The very orders for destruction and plunder are given with a quiet precision ... this is the mask that lies before the ruined cornfield and the burning cot-tage? * The fight was very real to William. As he explained a few days later, We are but minute links in the immense chain of the terrible organisation of competitive commerce, and ... only the complete unriveting of that chain will really free us p. 401 > Jane and William planted for beauty and for use. They recognised the importance of traditional varieties of flowers, not just because they were less artificial, but because they fed the bees. As Willan explained, be very shy of double flowers, choose the old columbine and the single sunflower, with its centre clogged with honey and beset with bees and butterflies? * Even at the factory in Merton Abbey, William saw how gardens could make a difference to his employees. > The men and women who worked there could take time to tend the flower borders and vegetable patches, to plant and to prune. They produced marvellous asparagus beds, and armfuls of blossom that William would bring back on the train to Hammersmith. He knew that the other commuters thought he looked odd, but he did not mind p. 404 > In his dream-narrative News from Nowhere, the transformations as readers, we are entranced in the landscape between London and Oxford reflected the dramatic shifts in society that William envisioned. News from Nowhere was forests stretch from Kensington first published in the Socialist journal… --- Further research: [William Morris Gallery Collection](https://wmgallery.org.uk/collection/explore-the-collection/) This Book of the Queen by Christine de Pizan. As (a pioneering text on women by a woman) #### Places Epping Forest [Avebury](https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wiltshire/avebury/exploring-the-stone-circles-at-avebury) (p. 19) [[Kelmscott Manor]] Oxford #### People [[Yggdrasil/People/William Morris]] [[Jane Morris]] [[Walter Scott]] [[Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal]] [[Edward Burne-Jones]]