ABSTRACT
Crane became a close friend of William Morris as both were keen to restructure the nature of craftsmanship and design in contemporary society and to usurp the capitalist system. Crane was particularly influenced by Morris's pamphlet titled Art & Socialism, and took up the socialist cause in the 1880s, joining the Social Democratic Federation, subsequently following Morris into the breakaway Socialist League. The important role that Morris played in developing Crane's ideas is confirmed in the review of this work published in The Academy and Literature. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was the centre of the group, the leading spirit, and he had absorbed the spirit of the pre-Raphaelite movement and centralized it both in painting and verse. Essentially Gothic and romantic and free in spirit as opposed to the authoritative and classical, its leader was emphatically and even passionately Gothic in his conception of art and ideals of life.
