Abstract

The article deals with William Morris’s interest in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, a significant source of subjects for many of his original poems, in particular Lovers of Gudrun and Sigurd the Volsung. Initially, Morris was finding his inspiration in English abstracts and translations of Old Norse texts, but the year he met Icelandic scholar Eiríkr Magnússon was a real turning point. Morris and Magnússon are credited with a tremendous number of English translations of the Icelandic sagas (The Saga Library cycle; six volumes). They visited Iceland and some places related to Íslendingasögur as well.