MR. MORRIS'S " SIGURD."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIII,—I have read with great interest your review of Mr. Morris's poem, "Sigurd the Volsung," and it seems to me that much of
what might, at first sight, seem obscure in the poem may be ex-
plained, if it is borne in mind that the story of Sigurd is a sun- myth. Mr. Morris has been careful to keep this in view through- out the poem, and the lines quoted by your reviewer as "fine, though unintelligible," become clear, if the reader realises that Sigurd is the new-risen sun, who "shall smite when the day- dawn glimmers thro' the folds of God-home's foe," i.e., the dark- ness; who "binds the red rings "—rays of light—to "cast them
abroad," and rejoice the earth with the "water's hoard," the golden glory on the sea at sunrise. With this clue the whole passage, as well as many others in the poem, becomes less obscure and more interesting. Thus Brynhild represents the Dawn, the Niblungs the evening clouds among which the Sun finally sets.
I only know Mr. Morris through his works, but I venture to write these few lines, as I have always admired the extreme fair- ness of your literary criticisms, and I should be sorry if any of your numerous readers were deterred from the study of Morris's noble poem by what seems to me an insufficiently-warranted charge of obscurity.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A CONSTANT SUBSCRIBER. [Yes, but what does,— "The young king rendeth apart, The old guile by the guile encompassed, the heart made wise by the heart," mean, on that explanation ?—En. Spectator.]
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