How did Icelandic sagas influence William Morris’s writing?

William Morris’s deep engagement with Iceland and his study of medieval sagas in their original Old Norse significantly shifted the tone of his literary work. While his earlier poetry, such as The Earthly Paradise, drew from classical and medieval sources with a romantic sensibility, his immersion in the sagas introduced a "sterner spirit" to his writing.1

This influence culminated in his principal poetic achievement, the epic Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1876), which was written following his prolonged study of these narratives. Additionally, his travels to Iceland in 1871 and 1873 inspired some of his most vigorous descriptive writing, which he recorded in his personal journals.1