William Morris and the Judgment of God

William Morris once said to a friend, “if there is a God, He never meant us to know much about Himself, or indeed to concern ourselves about Him at all.” The remark indicates a relationship that several of Morris' early stories and poems have to each other. In “Lindenborg Pool,” the protagonist seeks, but does not receive, a sign from God; in “The Hollow Land,” two medieval knights who thought they did have signs from God finally realize that they have only taken their own judgments for His; and even “The Judgment of God,” in spite of its title, argues that men should not attempt to ascertain God's judgment. Morris' Guenevere, in her “Defence,” does not defend herself against the charge of adultery but against Gauwaine's claim that his judgment is the same as God's. On the other hand, when Guenevere (in the poem “King Arthur's Tomb”) follows Morris' advice, when she does not concern herself about God or His judgment, she discovers the truth about her guilt, that while she may not have sinned against God (as Gauwaine said she had), she has certainly sinned against a man, against Arthur, her husband.