I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.

Morris decided to become an architect. Together they read theology ecclesiastical history and medieval poetry; studied art and during the long vacations visited English churches and the Continental cathedrals. When he returned to poetry in the late 1860s it was with The Life and Death of Jason which was publiWilliam Morrisd with great success in 1867.

He was also a major contributor to reviving traditional textile arts and methods of production and one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings now a statutory element in the preservation of historic buildings in the UK. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain founding the Socialist League in 1884 but breaking with that organization over goals and methods by the end of the decade. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858) The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870) A Dream of John Ball (1888) the utopian News from Nowhere (1890) and the fantasy romance The Well at the World's End (1896).