The Industrial Revolution was a historical period that began in Great Britain in the 18th century. During this time, technological advances initiated the transition from a primarily agrarian economy to an economy based on manufacturing and advanced machinery. Factories, the internal-combustion engine, and the use of coal as an energy source were important features of the Industrial Revolution.
The influence of the Industrial Revolution can definitely be seen in William Blake's "The Tyger." For example,...
The Industrial Revolution was a historical period that began in Great Britain in the 18th century. During this time, technological advances initiated the transition from a primarily agrarian economy to an economy based on manufacturing and advanced machinery. Factories, the internal-combustion engine, and the use of coal as an energy source were important features of the Industrial Revolution.
The influence of the Industrial Revolution can definitely be seen in William Blake's "The Tyger." For example, take a look at the fourth stanza:
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp! (13-16)
Notice Blake's industrialized description. Rather than developing organically, Blake's tiger is constructed with a hammer, chain, furnace, and anvil. In this section of the poem, Blake seems to be conceiving of the creation of life as an industrialized process, one that has moved from the natural world to the factory. Moreover, by defining this process as "dread" and "deadly," Blake condemns this new, industrial method of creation. All in all, by describing the creation of life as part of the rise of manufacturing, Blake illustrates the terrifyingly unnatural nature of industrial production.
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