I
had read as a boy in books belonging to my father, the third
volume of 'The Earthly Paradise' and 'The Defence of Guinevere,'
which pleased me less, but had not opened either for a long time.
'The man who never laughed again' had seemed the most wonderful of
tales till my father had accused me of preferring Morris to Keats,
got angry about it and put me altogether out of countenance. He
had spoiled my pleasure, for now I questioned while I read and at
last ceased to read; nor had Morris written as yet those prose
romances that became, after his death, so great a joy that they
were the only books I was ever to read slowly that I might not
come too quickly to the end. It was now Morris himself that
stirred my interest, and I took to him first because of some
little tricks of speech and body that reminded me of my old
grandfather in Sligo, but soon discovered his spontaneity and joy
and made him my chief of men. To-day I do not set his poetry very
high, but for an odd altogether wonderful line, or thought; and
yet, if some angel offered me the choice, I would choose to live
his life, poetry and all, rather than my own or any other man's.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45