The Industrial Revolution in Romanticism

The Industrial Revolution in Romanticism

The industrial revolution, like the French Revolution, was bringing about lots of changes at the time that the Romantic poets began writing. More and more people were moving to the cities to work in factories, new manufacturing processes were being put in place, and people were moving further and further away from nature.

The Romantics weren't very enthusiastic about these changes—they were especially concerned about people moving away from nature. And so the Romantic movement was a movement against industrialization and mechanization.

Chew on This

Why didn't the Romantics like the Industrial Revolution? Because it made people pretty unhappy. Look at this quotation (Quote #3) from John Keats' Poem "Ode to a Nightingale," which reflects just how miserable people were.

William Blake's take on people's lives during the age of industrialization is pretty depressing. Check it out in his poem "London."