Literature: The Romantic Period

The Romantic Period is a term that is used to point out literary works that were composed around 1780 and 1830. It is a period that followed the Enlightenment period and it revived many concepts that the Enlightenment did not follow, such as imagination, going back to nature, and emotions. It was also a period of war and revolutions. With the French revolution, many concepts have surfaced such as equality. William Blake was one of many poets during that time. He was hopeful for the outcome of the French revolution. Similar to Blake the poet William Wordsworth also believed that the political and social structure of society has to change. In addition to the French Revolution, there was the Industrial Revolution, which also caused many changes

In the second stanza he generalizes the inhumane situation by repeating the word “every”, as the speaker says “In every cry of every Man, /In Infant’s cry of fear, /In every voice, in every ban, /The mind-forg’d manacles I hear:” (L. 5-8) In the third stanza, he gives another example of another social issue that appeared during that time, the suffering of chimney sweepers when he wrote “How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry” (L.9) which is a clear example of child abuse by materialism and the industry. He criticizes clergymen who allow such thing to happen to children “Every blackning Church appalls” (L.10) In addition to the chimney sweepers he mentions the soldiers as an example of suffering individuals. He pictures them as “hapless Soldier’s sighing” (L.11) The last victim of the corrupted society that Blake mentions are the “harlot”. Athe speaker states that the “blights with plagues the Marriage hearse” (L.16) and Changjuan Zhan states that “The unfortunate women are forced to be harlots. Just according to their curses, we can see everything covered with darkness, so the wedding becomes a funeral” (1613). By mentioning all these examples Blake shows how Industrialization affects the quality of life and that everyone is affected by this miserable and tragic reality.
In conclusion, William Wordsworth and William Blake wrote against Industrialization, as they elaborate on the problems the revolution caused and focusing on the negative effects it had on nature and on the quality of life. While Wordsworth expresses his concerns by focusing on the importance and beauty of nature and how Industrialization corrupts that beauty of nature, Blake on the other hand, focuses on the material gain because of that the Industrial Revolution and how it affected people and the quality of life in