The Industrial Revolution raised concerns about the natural landscape when broad social and economic changes also generated increasing pollution across England. Around the same time, ideas of naturalism (from French Philosophical writings) swept across Europe. They persuaded people to go back to nature’s simple ways. Enlightenment theories of Reason disseminated ideas of nature as teacher and guide. However, landscape painting in England was unimportant at that time, compared to Portraiture or History Painting (Gardner 2009, pp 793). A passion for landscape art was advanced by the developments in road and rail infrastructure due to rapid industrialization. New thoughts on the Subjective associations of landscape painting with spirituality, Morals and Philosophy were inspired by Romantic poetry. 19th century Poetry epitomized sublime forces and mystical kinship with nature (Gardner 2009, pp 793). Landscape painting soon emerged, becoming a medium for a full range of conscious and subconscious emotions; it entered the realm of sublime and symbolic expression
The Industrial Revolution which began in the middle of the 17th century brought vast social and economic change to the demographic landscape of Great Britain. This phenomenon later spread to the U.S. and Europe, affecting similar changes to (their) social and economic conditions (Wyatt 2009). The English landscape was the scene of rapid physical transformation. Spinning mills loomed where once there was an unspoiled country side. The swift expansion of steel and mining industries turned night into day. Days were turned into smog filled panoramas of gloom. An increase in wealth also brought with it physical problems caused by pollution and unhealthy working conditions.
Figure #1 is a representation of an Industrial landscape at night. The strange glow of a coal furnace is contrasted against the natural light of the moon. The picture embraces an honest depiction of present conditions. Its dystopian context is symbolized by the contrast between a man-made industrial hell and natural landscape. The genre of landscape painting in England during the 18th century was not given as much importance as portrait painting or historical illustration. This “hierarchy of genres” (Langdon 2007) lost importance during the industrial revolution when people began to relate to the subjective impressions found in landscape painting.
The subjective association of landscape with emotional meaning evolved when new sensitivity to the world of nature inspired poets and writers. The pure force of nature’s metaphor compounded with poetic and prosaic imagery. One of Wordsworth’s first Romantic poems regrets the loss of mans spiritual union with nature.
The Industrial Revolution stimulated new ways of advancing technology as it spread throughout Great Britain. The issues raised by the growth of Manchester demonstrate the struggles of the working class and the devastating impact of industrialization on the environment and the will of the
The period during which there was an increased output of machine-made goods, also known as the Industrial Revolution, played a critical role in reshaping Britain’s economy. The Industrial Revolution, stimulated by advancements that were made during the Agricultural Revolution, began in Great Britain for many reasons. In addition to Britain’s broad availability of natural resources, the count...
The Industrial Revolution began in England during the late 1700s, and by the end of its era, had created an enormous amount of both positive and negative effects on the world in social, economic, and even political ways. The revolution began to spread across the world, raising the standard of life for the populations in both Europe and North America throughout the 1800s. However, even with all of its obvious benefits, its downsides are nonnegotiable, forcing workers into horrendous living and working conditions, all inside of unkempt cities. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of the railroad system, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s
When thinking about nature, Hans Christian Andersen wrote, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” John Muir and William Wordsworth both expressed through their writings that nature brought them great joy and satisfaction, as it did Andersen. Each author’s text conveyed very similar messages and represented similar experiences but, the writing style and wording used were significantly different. Wordsworth and Muir express their positive and emotional relationships with nature using diction and imagery.
“Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness.” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
The dawning of the nineteen century brought with it a change in the political and social climate, the world was ready to usher in a new era of artistic thought. This new awareness was called “Romanticism” and saw its height during the Industrial Revolution. At this time, the Romantic era centered on the ideas of emotion, fantasy and hope. The end of the French Revolution became an important force in propelling a new train of thought. For the first time people were now regarded as individuals, oppression was sympathized and the banner of equality was flying high.
The Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England brought about many changes in British society. It was the advent of faster means of production, growing wealth for the Nation and a surplus of new jobs for thousands of people living in poverty. Cities were growing too fast to adequately house the numerous people pouring in, thus leading to squalid living conditions, increased filth and disease, and the families reliance upon their children to survive. The exploitation of children hit an all time peak in Britain when generations of its youth were sacrificed to child labor and the “Coffers” of England.
The political, ideological, and economic climate of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was ideal for allowing the Romantic Revolution to take hold and flourish. It began primarily in England and France, but soon spread to much of Europe and to the United States. This essay will focus on the Romantic’s relationship with the natural world, their distaste for the Industrial Revolution, and how the Romantic poets valued imagination and emotional connections. The Romantics had a lasting impact on European and American society, political ideals, and the regard we hold for ideals and values such as nature and childhood. The Romantic’s ideas ran counter to much of the thinking of the intellectual community and to the values of industry and government of the time. By changing and challenging the minds of the masses to think differently they created a revolution in literature.
The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and technology went through a period of significant change. These changes had a profound impact on the social and cultural conditions of the time, beginning in the Untied Kingdom and spreading throughout Western Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. The Industrial Revolution, considered a major turning point in history, effected almost every aspect of daily life; through new discoveries in technology came new jobs; through new jobs came new working conditions; through new working conditions came new laws and new politics, the repercussions of which extend to today. As Crump emphasizes: ‘The world as we have come to know it in the twenty-first century is impossible to understand without looking at the foundations laid – mainly in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century – in the course of what is now known, but not then, as the ‘Industrial Revolution’ .
Nature is often a focal point for many author’s works, whether it is expressed through lyrics, short stories, or poetry. Authors are given a cornucopia of pictures and descriptions of nature’s splendor that they can reproduce through words. It is because of this that more often than not a reader is faced with multiple approaches and descriptions to the way nature is portrayed. Some authors tend to look at nature from a deeper and personal observation as in William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, while other authors tend to focus on a more religious beauty within nature as show in Gerard Manley Hopkins “Pied Beauty”, suggesting to the reader that while to each their own there is always a beauty to be found in nature and nature’s beauty can be uplifting for the human spirit both on a visual and spiritual level.
William Wordsworth has respect and has great admiration for nature. This is quite evident in all three of his poems; the Resolution and Independence, Tintern Abbey and Michael in that, his philosophy on the divinity, immortality and innocence of humans are elucidated in his connection with nature. For Wordsworth, himself, nature has a spirit, a soul of its own, and to know is to experience nature with all of your senses. In all three of his poems there are many references to seeing, hearing and feeling his surroundings. He speaks of hills, the woods, the rivers and streams, and the fields. Wordsworth comprehends, in each of us, that there is a natural resemblance to ourselves and the background of nature.
Nature inspires Wordsworth poetically. Nature gives a landscape of seclusion that implies a deepening of the mood of seclusion in Wordsworth's mind.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
In poetry the speaker describes his feelings of what he sees or feels. When Wordsworth wrote he would take everyday occurrences and then compare what was created by that event to man and its affect on him. Wordsworth loved nature for its own sake alone, and the presence of Nature gives beauty to his mind, again only for mind’s sake (Bloom 95). Nature was the teacher and inspirer of a strong and comprehensive love, a deep and purifying joy, and a high and uplifting thought to Wordsworth (Hudson 158). Wordsworth views everything as living. Everything in the world contributes to and sustains life nature in his view.
Many poets are inspired by the impressive persona that exists in nature to influence their style of poetry. The awesome power of nature can bring about thought and provoke certain feelings the poet has towards the natural surroundings.