D. H. Lawrence and industrialism

Abstract

David Herbert Lawrence was born on 11 September 1885, at 8A Victoria Street in the mining village of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, a mixture of industrial and rural England. At that time, England was experiencing a rapid industrial flourishing. Capitalist industrial methods were replacing old methods of work. The evils of mechanisation and industrialism were increasing vigorously and the process of dehumanisation and the disfigurement of nature brought about tragic effects on human life. The country's industries were characterised by a change from small-scale production to increased mechanisation and mass production in factories, especially in eighteenth century Britain. This process is known as the 'Industrial Revolution'. Britain was the first country to undergo full-scale industrialisation. It has come therefore to be regarded as the prototype. Various sectors were altered and modified by the 'Industrial Revolution', namely the agricultural, the textile and the mining industries. In the early years of the eighteenth century, agricultural methods were still very primitive. All the work was done by means of manual operation and production was local, inter-regional in scope. Many agricultural lands were family owned and all the laborious work was done by the family members. Those who did not own their own land, were employed to work in other people's fields.