ABSTRACT
From his first volumes of poetry through his final prose romances, William Morris’s writings often featured portrayals of complex and striking women. An understanding of the possible influences on the representations is central to a full interpretation of his work. In addition, recent biographers and other critics have devoted much attention to the women in Morris’s life. Nonetheless, Morris retained an imaginative preference for conventional gender divisions: within his literary works; men are more often warriors and travelers, and his women, with some exceptions, are aligned with forces of nature and love. Morris’s relationships with female family members and friends were generally affectionate, though on occasion these required negotiation and adaptation. Whatever their actions, however, these women are often represented as limited in their choices and threatened by potential sexual victimization in a violent and male-directed world.
