Industrial Revolution Leading to the Romantic Movement

There are moments in history where radical change so heavily and propounding reshapes the world we are accustom to that an equally vigorous reactionary movement emerges; this is the case with the Industrial Revolution and subsequent Romantic Movement. During this historic period, the world was drastically and profusely changed. According to many historians the Industrial Revolution is the greatest of histories epochs of change and dynamic redefinition of how humans live and interacted with nature. Like its name suggests, the Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid industrialization. During the mid-18th and early 19th century, technological advance and industrialization occurred at an astronomical pace. Moreover, it was a shift in the technological, socioeconomic and cultural conditions which defines the Industrial Revolution. This all started in Britain and, then, eventually spread throughout the world. A variety of inventions increased efficiency and facilitated the emergence of new production methods, such as steam power, industrial production techniques, canals, railways, etc. These changes impacted society greatly. This period in time marked a major turning point in human history, in which almost every aspect of daily life was eventually influenced in some way. During the Industrial Revolution, an intellectual and artistic hostile towards the new industrial development, which was known as the Romantic Movement, emerged. The movement stressed the importance of “nature” in art and language—in contrast to monstrous machines and factories. Individualism became more widespread, and Romanticism was the initial literary and artistic reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
Power driven machines began to supplant people in many areas once the domain of human labor and manual power. The Romantic Movement, playing off the populace’s fear and mistrust of machines, which were taking their jobs, changed the way people thought about art, writing, and other creative