John Ruskin's 'The King of the Golden River'

The Ruskins left England in September, 1840. Ruskin’s diary shows that his mood remained somewhat delicate, and he fluctuated between periods of elation and depression. His mood didn’t lift by November, when the family had reached Rome, and by the time they had reached Naples, Ruskin’s illness had returned and he was coughing once again. This particular episode of throat infection and subsequent depression would not last as long as the others, however, and upon returning to Rome, his health had greatly improved. He finally returned to England on 29 June, 1841.

Ruskin began the work that same year, partly out of restlessness and boredom whilst he was recovering at Leamington Spa from a bout of illness, partly because of a challenge from a thirteen-year-old Euphemia Gray, who had visited him at Herne Hill. Ephemia Gray was the daughter of a Perth lawyer who would, seven years later, become Ruskin’s wife. Her father, George Gray, knew Ruskin’s father as he had taken care of some personal business for Jessie Richardson, Ruskin’s aunt. The two families knew each other casually and it had been arranged that Effie, as she was affectionately called, should stay with the Ruskin family at Herne Hill before returning to her boarding school at Stratford-upon-Avon. Although written in the early 40s, The King of the Golden River would not be published until 21 December 1850, but was dated the following year; illustrated by Richard Doyle, it immediately went through three editions and would be one of Ruskin’s most popular works. It would later be translated into several plays; one written by Norman Carrington in the thirties and again in the sixties by Tim Kelly, and would eventually form the basis of a children’s opera. Although the over the generations, The King of the Golden River has been reinterpreted, the audience’s appreciation of Ruskin’s artistic perception, in the work, has remained unchanged. In his 1930 introduction Eugene A. Noble focuses his comments on the nature, and accuracy, of Ruskin’s observations whilst Elizabeth Bowen, in 1962, stresses the virtue of the work. Irrespective of changing literary taste, the work has not lost its ability to appeal to a variety of readers.

Ruskin’s King of the Golden River is more than a fairy tale meant to amuse a little girl, it is a microcosm of his artistic and architectural philosophy; the theme of the text echoes the architectural principles contained in the

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