Narrative poem · 1868

The Earthly Paradise

Part I: The Prologue, March and April

by William Morris

Morris's frame story of Norse wanderers who sail in search of the earthly paradise and end their days in a western city whose elders trade tales with them month by month. Part I holds the Apology (‘the idle singer of an empty day’), the Prologue in which the wanderers tell their own story, and the tales of March and April: Atalanta's Race, the Man Born to be King, the Doom of King Acrisius and the Proud King.

Contents · 9 parts

• An Apology42 lines
• Prologue: The Wanderersabout 2780 lines
• The Author to the Reader26 lines
• March97 lines
• Atalanta's Raceabout 730 lines
• The Man Born to be Kingabout 2240 lines
• April47 lines
• The Doom of King Acrisiusabout 2520 lines
• The Proud Kingabout 850 lines

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