3 h 33 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 33 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if you wake in a medieval village where ordinary people are ready to challenge their lords?
In William Morris's A Dream of John Ball, a troubled man from the author's own century wakes in fourteenth-century Kent. Will Green, a young bowman, befriends him and brings him among the rebels. Around them, farmers and archers face the hopes and dangers of the Peasants' Revolt, resisting the poll tax and bondage to their lords.
At the heart of the dream stands John Ball, a wandering priest who preaches equality and fellowship. In a quiet night of conversation, he and the dreamer bring two ages face to face. The companion tale, A King's Lesson, turns to a ruler taught by those he rules, keeping questions of power and justice close at hand.
What you’ll discover
- A village before rebellion Walk among houses, fields, and market talk as hope meets wariness in Kent.
- A priest of fellowship Meet John Ball, whose calm force gives voice to the rising against bondage.
- Two ages in conversation Listen as the dreamer and Ball consider the world beyond the rebels' own time.
- The rhythm of old prose Settle into a first-person dream whose language draws on old English chronicles and romances.
- A ruler becomes a pupil Explore A King's Lesson, where those under a ruler become his teachers.
Who will love it
For readers who love history told as a story, medieval rebellion and visions of fellowship, and anyone curious about the Peasants' Revolt or Morris's politics.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A sleeper wakes in the year 1381
- A village alive with hope and wariness
- John Ball preaches that no man is born a lord
- Fellowship is the heart of the book
- A night of talk across the ages
- A dream told in the voice of the past
Who’s who
- The dreamerA man of Morris's own century who wakes in the fourteenth century and is drawn into the rebels' hopes and fears.
- John BallA wandering priest who preaches that all people are born equal and who gives the rising its voice.
- Will GreenHe befriends the stranger and brings him to the rebels.
- Jack StrawOne of the rebel leaders gathered with the men of Kent, a plain fighter for the common cause.
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Ein Traum von John Ball & Die Lehre eines Königs
by William Morris · 1888
A dreamer wakes in Kent in 1381, where a rebel priest gives voice to a rising against bondage.
Medium level2–5 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
A Dream of John Ball is a short romance by William Morris, first printed in the socialist paper The Commonweal in 1886 and 1887, and published as a book in 1888. It looks back to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, when the common people of England rose against the poll tax and against bondage to their lords.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A sleeper wakes in the year 1381
The tale opens with a narrator who belongs to Morris's own time. His worries about current affairs sometimes give way to vivid dreams. He lies down, falls asleep, and wakes in a quiet country place in Kent, in the days of King Richard the Second.
At first he does not know where or when he is. He sees fields, orchards and a village with a church, and he sees people whose speech and clothes differ from those of his own day. A man named Will Green, a bowman, meets him.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1888
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 2 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
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What is A Dream of John Ball about?
It tells of a man from the nineteenth century who falls asleep and wakes in Kent in 1381, during the Peasants' Revolt. He meets villagers and the rebel priest John Ball and talks with him about freedom and fellowship.
Who was the real John Ball?
John Ball was an English priest who preached against serfdom and social rank in the fourteenth century. He is linked to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and to the rhyme about Adam delving and Eve spinning.
What does fellowship mean in William Morris's book?
It means a shared way of life where people work together, share what they make and treat each other as equals. Morris saw it as the thing the medieval rebels and later socialists were really seeking.
The author
William Morris
1834–1896 · English poet and designer
William Morris (1834–1896) was an English writer, textile designer, artist, and printer. He was born in Walthamstow and died in London. His books include The House of the Wolfings (1889), News from Nowhere (1890), and The Well at the World's End (1896). He founded the Kelmscott Press in 1891.
More by William Morris
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