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How did the Industrial Revolution affect English Romantic poets?

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“The Tyger,” anastatic print by William Blake — Romantic literature English Romantic poet and artist William Blake wrote and illustrated “The Tyger” and other poems in his book *Songs of Innocence and of Experience* (1794).

The Industrial Revolution was a significant social and political factor that shaped the development of English Romantic literature in the early 19th century.1

The rise of factories, the expansion of cities, and the shift toward mechanized labor created an environment that pushed Romantic poets to seek an escape from modern society through an emphasis on emotion and nature. This reaction was rooted in the belief that human vices and societal ills were products of modern industrial life, leading poets to elevate the natural world over the increasingly urbanized and industrialized landscape.2

Furthermore, poets like William Blake actively attacked the impersonal cruelties and the dominance of analytic reason that characterized the era. By rejecting the 18th-century focus on intellect and social conformity, the Romantics championed the individual, the power of imagination, and the "language of the heart," positioning the poet as a visionary figure capable of transcending the "fever of the world" brought on by industrial and societal pressures.314