Questions of Travel: William Morris in Iceland

In 1871, English poet William Morris traveled to Iceland in the company of several guides, 30 horses, and three friends, and compiled a delightfully unpretentious and, at times, humorously self-deprecating account of his travels. Here, poet Greenlaw (The Casual Perfect) thoughtfully excerpts selections from Morris’s journal and pairs them with her own meditations on travel. Morris’s sentences stretch on for pages (the journal was never intended for publication) and his style is simple and unaffected; Greenlaw’s economic verses serve as counterpoints with the lyrical brevity of haiku. She has made the journey to Iceland herself, and her meditations on Morris’s travels carry the understanding and empathy of a fellow traveler on a journey amid the lonely but sublime “dark passages that lead from one language to another.” This composite work leaves the reader smitten by wanderlust. (Mar.)