Sunday, February 6, 2011

Child Labour in 19th Century England

For our presentation we have chosen to do it on Child Labour in England during the 19th century. Within this post we are going to present our interpretation on the poem "The Steam Loom Weaver" and also share with you a video that summarizes child labour during the Industrial Revolution in England.

This is our interpretation of the poem “The Steam Loom Weaver” (c. 1830) (author Unknown)

This poem seems to be a lot more upbeat and happier when regarding the working world of England in the 19th century. The speakers talks about the loom being out of order like it is just another general problem and does not seem to worried about the consequences of not working when things are broken. Like we heard from Elizabeth Bentley when she was talking about her working life, if you did not do your job fast enough or did not do it to the level that your boss wanted it then you were given the strap and that really hurt. The speaker does not seem to concerned and a lot happier then what would be expected from workers of mills in England in the 19ht century.

In the video mentioned below, they mention that when a machine breaks that it is not time off but time that will be added to your shift. Unlike in the poem where it seems like it is a time to relax and to take a break, in reality when a machine broke down you would have wanted to fix it as fast as possible and then get back to work going as fast as you could to make up for the time lost.

This clip summarizes the beginnings of child labour during the Industrial Revolution in England.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgu61a_victorian-child-labour_lifestyle

This is brought to you by Jonathan and Chris! Thank you!

"Victorian Child labour." Flog It!. 2001. Daily Motion. Web. Transcript. 3 Feb.
2011. xgu61a_victorian-child-labour_lifestyle>.

"The Steam Loom Weaver." 2007. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature:
Concise Edition. Vol. B. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2008. 572.
Print.

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