Abstract
In the Preface to Milton, now more familiarly known as Jerusalem, Blake expressed the hope that Jerusalem could be built in ‘England’s green and pleasant land’. Despite the emergence of an urban context rather than a pastoral one, technological advances appeared to produce a society nearer to that vision. For other critics, however, the dream had become a nightmare of exploitation and expropriation.
I will not cease from Mental Fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land
Preface to Milton by William Blake
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Further reading
J. Burnett, A History of the Cost of Living (1977);
B. S. Rowntree, Poverty: a study of town life (1901);
A. Briggs, Victorian Cities (1968);
R. Williams, Culture and Society (1963).
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© 1980 Neil Tonge and Michael Quincey
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Tonge, N., Quincey, M. (1980). The New Jerusalem? The Impact of Industrialisation. In: British Social and Economic History 1800–1900. Documents and Debates. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04991-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04991-2_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-27452-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-04991-2
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