The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th- early19th centuries and played an important role on the alteration of industry and life in England; a great number of small farms were replaced by cities, goods were being mass produced at a rapid rate, the economy was strengthened, and the social class structure shifted. However, with all the glory came gloom, certain social classes became horribly affected by this great change, such as being economically exploited, and individuals from these social classes protested against this revolution; two poets, William Blake and Thomas Hardy used their poetic talents to craft poems that protested the effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, and both poems, William Blake’s, “The Chimney Sweeper,” and Thomas Hardy’s, “Ruined Maid,” were told through the dialect of a member of the underclass/economically exploited.
In William Blake’s, “The Chimney Sweeper” there is one speaker; a young, abandoned child whom was sold by his father at a very young age, “When my mother died I was very young. And my father sold me…” This speaker tells the story of living an economically exploited life as a chimney sweeper during the industrial Revolution. In Thomas Hardy’s, “Ruined Maid,” there are two speakers, two young ladies, one who has left farm life and has ventured into the city, “At home in the barton you said thee and thou, And ‘thik oon,’ and yjeas oon,’ and ‘t’ other’; but now…” and the other who still resides on the farm, “Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks.
The characters, in both poems all experience tangible hardship due to the Industrial Revolution. In the poem, “The Chimney Sweeper,” the young boy’s life is full of obscurity as he is destined to fulfill the dangerous job of chimney sweeping, “So in chimneys I sleep and in soot I sleep.” Chimney sweeping required young boys to get their heads shaved, , “for when your head’s bare You know that the soot can not spoil your white hair.” Young boys were also forced to clean chimneys naked, and they were also underfed, to be kept at a desirable weight that would enable them to easily fit in the chimney to clean it. Life as a chimney sweeper was very horrid, as young boys often lost their lives in the chimneys, contracted the beginnings of cancer of the scrotum, and deformed limbs, if chimney sweepers made it pass age 10, and being too big for the job, were most likely thrown to the streets and left to beg. In the poem, “The Ruined Maid, one speaker appears to be content with her ruined life, “We never do work when were ruined.” and the other speaker seems awed by the other maid’s current position in life, “But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek” ” I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown…and could strut about town.”. The (ruined) speaker makes ruined life seem appealing, but the ruined life comes with many complexities; young girls escape the farm life to take refuge in city life, compliments of prostitution, and these young girl often contract venereal diseases, or their looks become dull, and are no longer fit for prostitution and so are left to beg as a means to sustain life.
The Industrial Revolution influenced these character’s lives greatly; for the character in, “Chimney Sweepers,” it was the increase of coal use that increased the need for chimney sweeping, and young children were ideal candidates for this type of work because, they were small, and easy to exploit. During the Industrial Revolution, young children were often victims of child labor in which they were paid much less than adults (for the same quality of work) and forced to work in horrid, unsafe conditions. The characters in, ‘The Ruined Maid,” were members of the working class, this class suffered the most during the Industrial Revolution, the working class’ living and working conditions were extremely meager, and these individuals were just barely making it. The speakers in this poem were working class members who wanted to free themselves from this painful life, and they did this by venturing to the city (a product of the Industrial Revolution) to try to move up in the social hierarchy but in the end were defeated, and bought back down to their original status and class.
Although the Industrial Revolution, gave a boom to the industry it made the rich richer, and many of the poor, poorer. Exploitation of the poor and young helped to build the Industrial Revolution. The working class, and young, exploited, children provided strenuous labor for very minor pay, and this labor helped to strengthen the economy. The Industrial Revolution made it so that the working class had to work much harder than the upper or middle class to formulate stability.
