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Thinking, Dwelling, Building in News from Nowhere

Abstract:

This essay will provide an analytical ecocritical examination of

William Morris’s News from Nowhere as understood in relation to

Martin Heidegger’s Building, Dwelling, Thinking. I will argue that both

thinkers express a deep concern relating to the predominant

scientific worldview as espoused within modernity, and in

response they emphasize the importance of recognising the

historical transition of thought towards the mechanistic

comprehension of reality we have today. By way of introduction, I

will pose the question: What is Ecocirtisim? I will discuss the

development of this new and emerging critical idiom, as well as

asserting its importance to the contemporary environmental

crisis. In section II, I will discuss the Martin Heidegger essay

Building, Dwelling, Thinking, and look to draw out Heidegger’s notion of

‘poetic dwelling’. Further, I will assert the importance of

‘authentic thought’ in addressing our mechanistic tenancies

within modernity. In section III, I will introduce William Morris

and provide a discussion of his political oeuvre, with a view to

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highlighting the importance of aesthetics to his life and work.

In the final section, I will undertake a critical reading of

Morris’s, News from Nowhere, and will contrast it with the thought

of Heidegger as portrayed in Building, Dwelling, Thinking. To conclude,

I will assert that both thinkers saw within Western thought a

distinct lack of ‘metaphysical solace’. In response, both

thinkers look to highlight, within these works specifically, the

possibility of the development of an ‘alternative path’, one that

would allow for a different understanding of reality to develop.

In other words a way of thinking that would be conducive towards

the placing of human beings within nature; allowing for the

prospect of poetic dwelling upon the earth.

I – What is Ecocriticism?

The term ‘ecocriticism’ first came into being by way of

William Rueckert’s Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism.

First published in 1978, the essay signalled the birth of what is

now recognised to be a mainstay of literal theory.1 Cheryll

Glotfelty in a seminal publication, The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in

1 William Rueckert, Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism (1978), [In] The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, [Ed.] Glotgelty, C. & Fromm, H., (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996).

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Literary Ecology, defined ecocriticism as “the study of the

relationship between literature and the environment”.2 In this

way Ecocriticism can be seen to comprise an acivistic nature,

comparable to that of Feminism and Marxism. However, rather than

race or class being the focus adopted, “an earth-centred

approach” is given prime importance.3 The emergence of this

scholarly discipline arose simultaneously along with changing

attitudes towards the contemporary “environmental crisis”;

primarily the human “dominance” of the environment.4 In this way

it began as a conglomeration of criticism that sought to address

this now deep-routed concern for the survival of the planet and

thus human existence upon it.5 Ecocriticism does not set itself

up against these other academic disciplines per-se, but it

attempts to elucidate the problem at hand; it seeks to “define,

explore and even resolve ecological problems” in a wider sense.6

2Cheryll Glotgelty, The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996), Introduction. 3 Ibid. Introduction.4 Ibid. Introduction.5 The interdisciplinary nature of ecocriticism is highlighted by a number of academic scholars. The field as it is known today comprises academic work from: scientific studies (primarily: ecology), historical studies, philosophy,sociology, politics, ethics, amongst others. 6 Cheryll Glotgelty, The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, (Athens: 1996), Introduction.

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Most ecocritical scholarship has concentrated on the study

of Anglo-American and British literature written in the

eighteenth and nineteenth century.7 This is due to the emergence

of a number of important developments in literature within this

period, these developments paved the way for a diverse

exploration of a number of environmental topics.8 Much of the

best known literature that was produced within this period gives

heed to pastoral clichés, emphasises and depicts picturesque

landscapes, and romanticises about forgotten wildernesses. These

works specifically can thus be open to charges of nostalgia or

idealism with their relevance to contemporary academic debate

7 Adoring to much of the academic literature the magnum opus of ecologically orientated work is seen to be Henry D. Thoreau’s Walden (1845). This philosophical book addresses the human relation to nature particularly the possibility of living in harmony with nature and one's soul. Another work considered in the same vein is Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature (1836). Within theessay the writer sets up this thought regarding transcendental philosophy (He is particularly critical of George Berkeley and John Locke), he encourages contemplation of a more spiritual side of nature with a view to re-establish anatural bond between humans and the environment.8 Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism: the new critical idiom, (London & New York: Routledge, 2004).The romanticism movement, comprising idealistic undertones, reached its peak in the mid-nineteenth century, and had undoubted influence on a number of American and British writers who took a particular interest in nature as a subject; this was surpassed by Victorian realism in the mid-to-late nineteenthcentury which focused on a critique of the broadly expanding industrial landscape, which was viewed in stark contrast to natural landscapes; also during the period there developed a penchant for explorers and natural historians to undertake in the practice of writing to convey newly encounteredplaces and wildlife; and finally pioneers and other travellers wrote of their experiences with an emphasis on setting.

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held into question. Ecocriticsim, however, seeks to address these

misconceptions, and bring new light and understanding to many

seminal works that were prophetic in relation to the imposition

of power at play within society, and the dynamics of social

change. One such work that certainly possesses these

characteristics will be the subject of analysis within this

essay; William Morris’s News from Nowhere (1890).9

II – Martin Heidegger

The philosophical project of Martin Heidegger is notoriously

difficult to understand. This is due to the fact that he is

essentially challenging the predominant mode of thinking within

modernity. He believes that our modern mechanised worldview is

neither incorrect nor invalid, but rather he sees it as limiting

the way in which we can understand the world around us. The

difficulties in comprehending the Hiedeggarian project are

exacerbated by his characteristic etymological approach to

philosophical investigation. He believes that this domineering

worldview can only be overcome if we are to ‘deconstruct’ and re-

9 William Morris, News from Nowhere, [In] William Morris: News from Nowhere and other writings, [Ed.] Wilmer, C., (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1993).

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interpret the very language that we use.10 He looks to reveal to

us the historical development of language that has come to

condition the ways in which we perceive and comprehend of our

very existence within-the-world.11 The misconception that

Heidegger identifies is fundamentally related to the human notion

of selfhood, which in turn guides our relations to other beings

and the environment that we inhabit.12 Thus, Heidegger’s

ontological exploration of being can be best understood as an

attempt to re-ground within the human subject a coherent self-

understanding, or authenticity, that will allow for proper

ethical relations concerning nature. His assertion then is not to

suggest that we are thinking incorrectly, but he does invite us

to take “an alternative road”, a road that will allow for

another, more poetic, interpretation of the world which we

inhabit.13 10 Heidegger does not mean deconstruct in the traditional sense, he redefines the term for use in philosophical investigation. The word he uses is, in German, is ‘Destruktion’.11 Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, [In] Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger [Ed]. Krell, D. F., (London: Routledge, 2002), p. 348.“Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man”.12 Other beings can be: natural objects, material things, animals, or other human beings.13 Cf. Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, (London: Routledge, 2002).Cf. Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, [in] Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger, [Ed.] Krell, D. F., (London: 2002).

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In Building, Dwelling, Thinking (1951), Heidegger looks to counter

this mechanistic modern mind-set directly. He offers up a

conception of living that allows humans to reside and remain

within nature, as opposed to the dualistic way in which we

conceive of nature/culture today.14 He believes that within

modernity human beings have lost sight with what is means to

dwell. Our modern conceptions of building, he believes, lead us

to conceive of building as a means to an end: we build to dwell.

However, upon closer examination, by way of his etymological

approach, the converse appears to be true; building is actually a

manifestation of dwelling: “to-build” is “to-dwell” and “to-

dwell” is “to-be or let-to-be”.15 In this way dwelling is equated

to not only the human essence, but further it is framed in

relation to the letting-be of other beings.16 In other words, a

shepherding of all beings within Being.

Cf. Martin Heidegger, Letter on Humanism, [in] Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger, [Ed.] Krell, D. F., (London: 2002).14 Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, (London: Routledge, 2002).15 Ibid., pp. 348 – 50.16 Such as: natural things, material objects, animals, or other human beings. Also the human essence, for Heidegger, it what he terms Dasein (being-in-the-world).

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To understand this terminology in a more comprehensive way

we can turn to Heidegger’s concept of the fourfold, which

constitutes a central aspect of dwelling. The word ‘fourfold’

(Geviert) equates in English to ‘square’ or ‘courtyard’ and is

therefore a spatial notion.17 The fourfold is comprised of four

elements: earth, sky, divinities, and mortals. Each of the four

elements are to be considered as belonging together in a unified

whole. Mortals are not simply a being-in-the-world, they exist

also as part of the primal oneness of the fourfold; what “we call

the world”.18 Within this fourfold humans dwell, they are “at

home”. For human beings to create an authentic home here on earth

means to ascend from a mortal to a divine state by integrating

nature and culture; in other words, to live in accordance with

the primal unity of the fourfold.19

17 Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 350 – 53.18 Ibid., p. 352.19 Ibid., p.353.Heidegger’s fourfold: 1 – Dwellers dwell on the earth; the earth embraces the totality of things, and comprises all that grows, lives, or contributes to life, and thus can be characterised by the variability of space. 2 – Dwellers dwell under the sky; the sky embraces literal signifiers (warmth of sun, passing of seasons, motion of planets/stars, etc.) and their metaphoric spiritual meanings projected upon them by human beings, and can thus be characterised by the permanence of space. 3 – The mortals are human beings. Human beings in their mortality emphasises the finitude and precariousness of their existence, and can be characterised by the variability, or limited nature, of time. 4 – The Divinities are “the beckoning messengers of the

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Heidegger’s bridge analogy provides an insight into how this

kind of thinking may take place:20 A bridge when conceived of as

a manifestation of the fourfold can be seen to gather all aspects

of it together.21 It in essence creates a space, a clearing where

beings can come-forth into Being. The bridge then is a locale

that clears the way for the unveiling/revealing of the fourfold.

Therefore, the locale itself cannot exist before the bridge. Upon

human contemplation of the bridge many possible locales are

considered, one of which proves to be a chosen locale, and is so

because of the bridge. Thus, all aspects of the fourfold are

taken into consideration via contemplation in the mind.22 It is

in this way that dwelling is a kind of thinking, and pertains to

a certain necessary thoughtfulness. A bridge if constructed in

conjunction with this “necessary thinking” in mind will not only

exist to allow human beings merely to cross a river, it will

exist as a being in-itself and will function as to allow all

godhead”; in this context dwelling can give access to something transcendent. I do not merely dwell in a house, it further shows my essence, who I am.20 Ibid., pp. 354 – 56.21 The four aspects are: earth, sky, mortals, and divinities. 22 This can be understood in relation to the Greek term episteme. Which can thenbe understood in terms of techne. Both are skills which can be performed to thehighest order; one relating to craft (techne), and one relating to knowledge (episteme). This skill in turn can be understood in relation to poesis (making), as a kind of bringing-forth into being (phusis).

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other beings to-be what they are in-truth; it will gather

together all elements required for the construction of the bridge

in such a way that the ecological harmony of nature will not be

interrupted.

The possibility of this thoughtfulness that allows for the

actualization of authentic dwelling rests within Heidegger’s

conception of the fourfold also. When all the elements of the

fourfold are possible, the world in which humans come to dwell is

inherently an ethical one. In this way the dynamic of the

fourfold actualizes the human being-in-the-world. Humans dwell in

nature between earth and sky, as mortals we look up to the divine,

and our culture as manifest by the gods becomes structured and

unified. In this way, only dwelling “in the sight of the gods”

does “man become a people (Volk)”.23 The fundamental problem then

within modernity can be understood in relation to Friedrich’s

Nietzsche famous statement: “God is dead […] And we have killed

him."24 Essentially the modern technological epoch that we find

23 Peter Critchley, The Ecological Communism of William Morris (2006), [e-book] Available through: Academia website <http://mmu.academia.edu/PeterCritchley/Books, Ch. 7.24 Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, [In] The Nietzsche Reader [Ed.] Pearson, A. &Large, D., (Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2006), pp. 362 – 85, Section 125.

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ourselves in has developed to “enframe” our perceptions of

reality in a purely technological way.25 We no longer comprehend

of our existence on poetic terms, we mistrust our everyday

experiences and dismiss the importance of spirituality. As

Nietzsche would say: we have lost our “metaphysical solace”.26

Section III: William Morris

William Morris can best be described as an aestheticist who

dedicated his entire life to combating what he termed: “the

ugliness of the industrial revolution”.27 He equated beauty to

harmony within nature, and it was this almost Platonic conception

of the Beautiful that would remain central to all that he pursued

in life. Morris was a highly creative individual, and was

considered somewhat of a dreamer in his youth. He became

politicised initially during his studies at Oxford University,

25 Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, [in] Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger, [Ed.] Krell, D. F., (London: Routledge, 2002).26 Friedrich Niezsche, The Birth of Tragedy, [In] The Nietzsche Reader [Ed.] Pearson, A.& Large, D., (Oxford: Blackwell Pub., 2006), pp. 42 – 88, Sections 3, 5, 7, 9.CF. Mircea Eliade, Myths, Dreams, & Mysteries, [Trans.] Mairet, P., (London & Glasgow: Harper Books, 1970), p. 24.Mircea Elaide puts it well when he states: “The myth is no longer dominant in the essential sectors of life… it has been repressed, partly into the obscurerlevels of the psyche, partly into the secondary or even irresponsible activates of society.”27 Arthur Clutten-Brock, William Morris, (New York: Parkstone Press International,2012), Introduction.

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whereby the writings of political radical John Ruskin intoxicated

his imagination. Despite developing a fierce distaste for

modernity and the emerging capitalist system, Morris initial

foray into adulthood took him via the arts and to a life of

painting, but this political apathy would soon fade and the all

too evident rumblings of rebellion and lust for social change

were quickly to become actualized. Morris’s belligerent attitude

became concretely evident upon his involvement in the creation of

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (1877), and

in the contribution he made to the formulation of The Socialist

League (1885); The former being the most obvious instance of

collaboration between Morris and Ruskin.28 It was within his

novel, News from Nowhere (1890), that these aesthetic ideals were

most imaginatively wielded.29 Morris then, despite being a

dreamer, was no mere utopian or idealist, but rather a political

visionary whose writings are as pertinent today as they ever

28 Arthur Leslie Morton, Political Writings of William Morris, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1973), p. 27.“Morris was deeply concerned for people, that they should lead free, happy anddignified lives in which all could develop to the full the powers with which, he was convinced, all are potentially endowed. But he knew that this was only possible given a healthy attitude to the natural world. He saw it, not, as capitalism has made it, an enemy to be conquered and exploited but as a friendto be won and cherished.”29 William Morris, News from Nowhere, (London: 1993).

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were. Perhaps it was this aesthetic approach to his contemporary

environment that allowed for such elucidation of thought with

regards to the state of modern civilization. In a way his

rejection of all things modern, including analytic thought, in

favour of a more constructive, imaginative, experienced based

conception of the modern world, led to a more “immediate and

concrete” understanding of the world in which we inhabit.30 It

was this view that led him to believe that civilization had taken

a wrong path, his vision and profound wisdom were to suggest that

another way was possible, a way that would allow for poetic dwelling

upon the earth.31

Section IV: Poetic Dwelling

(a): Thinking

The full title of Morris’s News from Nowhere is a playful and

suggestive one.32 The title itself “evokes the tradition of30 Arthur Leslie Morton, Political Writings, (London: 1973), p. 11.These ideals are evident within a number of Morris’s political lectures and writings. Notably: Art Under Plutocracy (1883); Art and Socialism (1884); The Society of the Future (1887); and Under the Elm Tree (1889). 31 Ibid., p. 28.32 Beatrice Laurent, The Landscapes of Nowhere, The Journal of William Morris Studies, [Accessed at: http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/18.2/18.2_landscapesNowhere.pdf] [Accessed on: 20/10/2014], p. 52.Full Title: News from Nowhere, or, an Epoch of Rest: being some chapters from a utopian romance.

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sensationalist seventeenth-century pre-tabloid literature”, a

genre that embodied hyperbolic scandal and risqué human

relations, as well as containing some eye catching art.33

However, News from Nowhere does in no way carry any of these

hallmarks; what then can be revealed by the choice of such a

provocative title? If one were to take into consideration

Morris’s radical socialist political standing, as is evident from

his political writings, it could be suggested that he may well

have been attempting to intensify interest in his book, not in a

commercial capitalist sense, but to enable it to act as a

mechanism allowing his aesthetic vison become manifest within the

general populis; he wanted the people on his side, he wanted them

to relate to his vison, and to achieve this he had to get them to

think differently.34

33 Ibid, p. 53.34 Marcus Waithe, From socialist news to fine art printing: William Morris's News from Nowhere, [Accessed at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/from-socialist-news-to-fine-art-printing-william-morriss-news-from-nowhere#sthash.X5VDIFU3.dpuf] [Accessed on: 30/11/2014]. It is worth noting that although the book may well have been written for eventual consumption by the general populous, it was also written as to generate debate within Morris’s own political circle (it was initially published in the Commonweal, the official newspaper for the Socialist League).The book contained many ‘in jokes’ and sought to stir up debate in a playful manner, where Morris made as much fun of himself as he did others.

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This notion of thinking differently is further actualised

within the novel itself, in Chapter I, the narrator, after an

evening of heated political discussion, tumbles into bed in a

“revolutionary mood”. He experiences a restless night, in this

lucid state he allows his imagination free rein. Upon awakening

in “a hazy and half-wake condition” he takes it for granted “that

[… he] was at home in [… his] own room”.35 Nowhere, is thus,

presented to the reader as a ‘waking dream’, a lucid sate that

allows for free play of the imagination, a place where ingrained

conceptions of reality can be left behind, a place that allows

for, in the Heidegarian sense, thoughtfulness to take place.36

(b): Dwelling

As discussed, the Heidegarian project leads us to view our

modern conceptions of building as a misconception; we do not

build to-dwell, we dwell to-build, and thus building is essential

35 William Morris, W., News from Nowhere, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1993), pp. 44 – 5.The debate referred to in the first chapter was one regarding the form of a post-revolution society; a brainstorming about the actualities of a possible socialist utopia. 36 Cf. Martin Heidegger, Building, Dwelling, Thinking, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2002).

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to our being-in-the-world. Existence, for Heidegger, designates

a mode of Being; “specifically, the Being of those beings who

stand open for the openness of Being in which they stand, by

standing it”.37 This Being of beings-in-the-world then is no mere

standing, it implies a bringing together, a gathering together of

other beings.38 This, then, for Heidegger, can be comprehended as

a type of safeguarding or more appropriately, a shepherding of

all other beings. This thought can be read in relation to the

modern understanding of the well-known biblical passage:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our

likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the

sea, and over the fowl of the air, and of the cattle, and

over all the earth.39

The modern interpretation of this passage lends thinking towards

the notion of ‘man as masters’ of the earth.40 This

37 Walter Kaufman, Existentialism: from Dostoevsky to Sartre, (New York: World Pub., 1984), Introduction. 38 Such as: natural objects, material things, animals, or other human beings. 39 The Holy Bible: King James Version, Iowa Falls, (IA: World Bible Publishers, 2001), 1: 26.40 This notion of ‘man as masters’ of the earth can be found in the work of Francis Bacon, who built upon Rene Descartes intellection of ‘I Think, therefore I am’. Cf. Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, [Trans.] Donald A. Cress, (Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co., 1992).

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interpretation of the word ‘dominion’, for Heidegger, is a

misconception. If one were to look at the etymological

development of the word ‘dominion’, one would discover that the

ancient Greek word for ‘dominion’ was ‘kratos’, and it is from

this word, kratos, that the English word ‘heard’ originates.41

When conceived of in this alternate way, ‘to have dominion over

the earth’, becomes akin to a shepherding of the earth; a

letting-be of all beings within Being.

This holistic unity and naturalist outlook on life is very

evident within News from Nowhere. Heidegger, like Morris before

him, understood the development of human autonomy in historical

terms, and was consequently able to locate this transformation of

human beings into selfhood as the primary catalyst of the

illusionary divide between nature and culture. Morris’s

disillusionment with modernity, the emerging supremacy of human

autonomy and anthropocentric ideals that emerged from it are

clearly expressed in Chapter XXVII, where Clara remarks:

Cf. Jean Overton Fuller, Sir Francis Bacon: A Biography, (Maidstone: East-West Pub., 1994).41 T. F. Hoad [Ed.], The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 212 – 3.

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Was not their mistake once more bred of life of slavery that

they had been living? – a life which was always looking upon

everything, except making, animate and inanimate – “nature”,

as people used to call it – as one thing, and mankind

another. It was natural to people thinking in this way, that

they should try to make “nature” their slave, since they

thought “nature” was something outside them.42

The event that was fundamentally to change this illusionary

perspective was the “Great Clearing”, whereby changes were made

to the rural landscape of Nowhereian London and furthermore to

the rest of the country. This resulted in the gradual

disintegration of the rigid distinction between country and town;

or nature and culture. Old Hammond, in Chapter X, describes the

change in this manner:

England […] became a country of huge and foul workshops and

fouler gambling-dens, surrounded by an ill-kept, poverty-

stricken farm, pillaged by the masters of the workshops. It

is now a garden, where nothing is wasted and nothing is spoilt, with

42 William Morris, News from Nowhere, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1993), p. 200(my emphasis added).

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the necessary dwellings, sheds, and workshops scattered up and

down the country, all trim and neat and pretty.43

Nowhere has now been transformed into a garden among gardens,

William, in Chapter XXIII, speaks of his surroundings:

I went out a-doors, and after a turn or two round the

superabundant garden, I wandered down over the meadow to the

river-side, where lay our boat, looking quite familiar and

friendly to me. I walked up-stream a little, watching the

light mist curling up from the river till the sun gained

power to draw it all away; saw the bleak speckling the water

under the willow boughs, when the tiny flies they fed on

were falling in myriads; heard the great chub splashing here

and there at some belated moth or other, and felt almost

back again in my boyhood.44

This illuminating passage conveys precisely an inherent holistic

landscape that has been allowed to emerge by process of a

nurturing subscription to ecological care. The image of a

superabundant garden evokes images and thought relating to the

43 Ibid., p. 99 – 100 (my emphasis added).44 Ibid., p. 178 (my emphasis added).

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Garden of Eden, which according to biblical tradition is the

abundant paradise from which all life began, even man who was

formed from “the dust from the ground”.45 Also in the passage

each of the four classical elements associated with pagan

religion(s) are clearly evident: “Earth (meadow), Air (mist),

Fire (sun) and Water (river)”.46 This holistic imagery is further

emphasised by the flowing nature of the passage, whereby

everything he sees seems to merge into one holistic image.

(c): Building & Conclusion

Within News from Nowhere the buildings and architectural

landscapes that Morris presents are representations of this

manifestation of the fourfold. As in Heidegger’s analogy of the

bridge, locale are opened up by way of contemplation and

thoughtfully considered in relation to the environment and

culture. People dwell in Nowhere, they do not merely live there.

This evinces a meaningful response to topography, ecology and

climate, all expressed by a culture that espouses a belief system45 The Holy Bible: King James Version, Iowa Falls, (IA: World Bible Publishers, 2001), 2: 7. 46 Beatrice Laurent, The Landscapes of Nowhere, The Journal of William Morris Studies, [Accessed at: http://www.morrissociety.org/publications/JWMS/18.2/18.2_landscapesNowhere.pdf] [Accessed on: 20/10/2014], p. 54.

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that places the communal over the individual, quality over

quantity, and beauty over degradation.

To turn again to the text: William Guest whilst aboard the

waterman’s boat heading down the Thames remarks with some

confusion and astonishment on the transformation that occurred

form the (apparent) previous day:

The soap-works with their smoke-vomiting chimneys were gone;

the engineer’s works gone […] Then the bridge! I had perhaps

dreamed of such a bridge, but never seen such an one out of

an illuminated manuscript […] It was of stone arches,

splendidly solid, and as graceful as they were strong; high

enough also to let ordinary river traffic through easily.47

The bridge here is constructed thoughtfully in accordance with

the primal unity as expressed within the fourfold. It exists in a

local whereby it unites bank with bank, allowing mortals to cross

with respect to their ecological beliefs, and the river is

allowed to flow uninterrupted. The bridge does not fundamentally

47 William Morris, News from Nowhere, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1993), p. 48 (my emphasis added).

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alter the being of any other-being, it lets all beings exist in-

themselves.

The manifestation of the fourfold is perhaps most accurately

portrayed in Chapter XVI. While entering the Dinner Hall after

walking through the Bloomsbury Market, William comments on the

architecture and the art work of the Hall:

[…] we entered a hall much bigger […] more elaborate in its

architecture and perhaps more beautiful. I found it

difficult to keep my eyes off the wall pictures […] I saw at

a glance that their subjects were taken from queer old-world

myths and imaginations which in yesterday’s world only about

half a dozen people in the country knew anything about.48

Old Hammond’s reply to Williams surprise at seeing such

depictions is:

I don’t see why you should be surprised; everybody knows the

tales; and they are graceful and pleasant subjects, not too

tragic for a place where people mostly eat and drink and

amuse themselves, and yet full of incident.49

48 Ibid, p. 130 – 1.49 Ibid., p. 130 – 1.

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William, still somewhat perplexed, dismisses the importance of

such pictures and remarks on their childlike nature. He also

thinks that the depictions portray a more primitive understanding

of the world, as opposed to the progressive and knowledgeable

nature of his modernity.

Within these passages one can begin to understand the

historical event that transformed Nowhere. Nowhereians still

value science and technology, but they also recognise the

importance of other ways of understanding the world. The “wall

pictures” referred to in the text are no mere pictures, they are

symbolic representations that structure and unify Nowhereian

society; they are the divine. The centrality of these myths and

legend to Nowhereian lives reinforces the poetic within the

culture as a whole. The bewilderment that confronts William when

faced with the paintings reflects the disambiguation between the

two worldviews; the poetic and the scientific. These paintings

are not “childlike” or “primitive” they offer a more authentic

poetic understanding of reality, one in which creative

interpretation plays a central role.50 These metaphoric tales are

50 Ibid., p. 130 – 1.

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told and re-told, they are discussed, debated, and passed on from

generation to generation. This allows each coming generation to

re-interpret the myths for themselves. The meaning then develops

with each succeeding generation, and allows for the grounding of

thought within nature. In addition, it combats the static and

limiting nature of enframing within the modern technological

epoch. Only by way of poetic language can one retain a “free

relationship” to technology, one which allows for poetic dwelling

upon the earth.

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