 In June 1852 Morris entered Oxford University 's Exeter College , although since the college was full , he only went into residence in January 1853 . He disliked the college and was bored by the manner in which they taught him Classics . Instead he developed a keen interest in Medieval history and Medieval architecture , inspired by the many Medieval buildings in Oxford . This interest was tied to Britain 's growing Medievalist movement , a form of Romanticism that rejected many of the values of Victorian industrial capitalism . For Morris , the Middle Ages represented an era with strong chivalric values and an organic , pre @-@ capitalist sense of community , both of which he deemed preferable to his own period . This attitude was compounded by his reading of Thomas Carlyle 's book Past and Present ( 1843 ) , in which Carlyle championed Medieval values as a corrective to the problems of Victorian society . Under this influence , Morris 's dislike of contemporary capitalism grew , and he came to be influenced by the work of Christian socialists Charles Kingsley and Frederick Denison Maurice . 
