London during the Industrial Revolution

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2.0, http://www.uni-jena.de/ (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Introduction to Literary Studies II, language: English, abstract: With the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, a new area began in Britain. First factories opened, and the people from the country moved to the cities to find work there. More great inventions were made. Now more and more products could be produced within shorter time. Originally, all these machines were created to facilitate the work for the people, to make their lifes easier. But the living standards did not get better for all people. One can read in many history books about dates of the industrial revolution, and about the names of the inventors. When we want to get to know something about the social life in London at about 1800, we need to look for books which document the living conditions of the people. These documents give an authetic image of the life of the ordinary people in the city. When reading the two poems London by William Blake and Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 by William Wordsworth it becomes clear that the impressions the poets got of the city are very different. What did London really look like at the beginning of the nineteenth century? Why did these poets see it so differently? This can be shown by analysing the two poems, and comparing them to eachother with reference to the documented real living conditions at that time.