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This is a poem I wrote as an assignment to write about a "monster" in the Industrial Revolution. Some literary devices I used were metaphors, hyperbole, and gothic elements. The intended tone of this poem was to set a very bleak, mundane, and hopeless atmosphere for the reader to experience. The "monster" in this poem was not necessarily supposed to be a real, tangible, physically existing being like you or me, but rather a sort of ghost-like force that controls people’s emotions and drives them downward into this sort of hive mind, holistic negative mental state that everyone experiences. These feelings are especially felt whenever something goes wrong as a result of industrialization. I was partially inspired by the works of Franz Kafka, as well as a poem (London) which we read in class, in order to try and convey an environment which is mundane and monotonous. I did this because I really wanted to emphasize the lingering emotions of fear, negativity, sadness, confusion, and anger that are essentially the things off of which this monster feeds. The monster sees humans as stupid workaholics, always trying to make what they refer to as "progress", no matter the cost. This can be seen in the line, “This thing was created by the humans who roamed the Earth, the mindless, change-craving machines who thought of nothing but trying to make their world ‘better’ or ‘more comfortable,’ with the disgusting audacity to call it ‘progress,’ yet still completely neglecting to address the repercussion.” I hope you enjoy this poem.

At first it was a whisper. Then it was a rush. Then a ghastly wind. It was invisible, inaudible, and intangible, and yet everyone felt it. When they went to work, when they toiled, when they wept, and when they begged. They felt it, and they did not know it. It was in their hearts, their hands, their minds and their souls. With a passive vengeance it controlled them. With its crooked hands it steers their conscience, their essence, their being, like a wagon-wheel reversing into an ever-descending abysmal hellscape with seemingly no end. It was not always like this. For you see this thing was once in a great slumber, one so deep that it had not been unbroken since the beginning of time. But as of late, a great rumbling of the Earth had taken place. Some great, ghastly, powerful force had shaken the ground under which this thing slept. This thing was created by the humans who roamed the Earth, the mindless, change-craving machines who thought of nothing but trying to make their world "better" or "more comfortable", with the disgusting audacity to call it "progress", yet still completely neglecting to address the repercussion. That repercussion was this creature. This creature has no physical or detectable presence, but it still exists in everyone. It thrives most when the progress comes with a sacrifice. Whenever a coal mine caves in with 40 men inside, you can be assured that the thing will be there. When a parent receives the message that their child has died at the cotton mill in an accident, the thing will be there. Every night that someone weeps for the fact that they are retiring for the night on an empty belly, this thing will be there. For this thing lurks, and watches, whenever man’s creation has unintended consequences. Perhaps one day the thing shall retire back to the Earth, but surely doing so would only be possible after humankind has ceased to exist.

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This next work is my speech, “The History and Effects of Industrialization.” While it was technically not part of our unit on industrialization, it was very convenient for me, because as the title would tell you, it was about the same topic. I wanted to look at industrialization from a more philosophical point of view, allowing me to take a more holistic approach to the subject. Some individual things I talk about in the speech are coal burning, textile waste, as well as air pollution and water pollution. I was inspired by the COP26 global climate summit, which had recently taken place before I wrote this speech, and which had caused significant political discourse. I didn’t really know much about it, so I decided to look into it myself, and found myself disappointed with the environment plan currently in place. I felt passionate enough about it that I wanted to do my speech on it, but I know that climate change is a very common topic for speeches among students. Therefore, I wanted to take a different approach with mine to make it more memorable. In order to do this, the approach I took was to look at the complete history of industrialization in order to thoroughly explain to the listener how we got to the state we are in, as well as look at what we can do in the present day in order to make the planet on which we live more hospitable in the future.

THE HISTORY AND EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION.

Here’s a question for the audience. How many of you here burn coal in your homes, raise your hand. How many of you dump your trash in the creek by your house, raise your hand. Now I want you to ask yourselves why. Because it’s out of fashion? Because it smells bad? Because you can’t find any coal, there is no creek by your house? Or is it because it’s. You think, burning coal is a ludicrous idea, we have hundreds of years of evidence to support the fact that burning coal, or directly throwing our waste into the ocean or some open area of environment so as to contaminate a beautiful slice of the Earth is a horribly unsustainable concept, and by moving away from certain actions, you are aiding in the regression of human practices that are harmful to the Earth. But the fact is, you are not. If you are someone who cares about being ecologically friendly and you are taking steps in your individual lifestyle to support your ideology of this, then yes, you are doing what would aid in the regression of pollution in our society; should our pollution rates actually be regressing, which they unfortunately are not. Not because of you, not because of your neighbour, but because of the nature of the world we live in.

So what is Industrialization? If you were to put in ‘Industrialization Definition’ into your web browser, you would get this. The development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale. But it’s more than that. It’s a spinning cogwheel that propels our society forward. Let me tell you what I mean. The history of industrialization supposedly began with something called ‘The First Industrial Revolution,’ which began roughly around the year 1760, lasted until about 1830, and was mostly confined to Great Britain. The cause of this revolution is mostly attributed to the idea that human beings could get work done with automatic machines, rather than using their own strength to accomplish such tasks. Instead of swinging pickaxes with our arms, we could use a steam-powered hoist or drill to dig it for us. Instead of sewing thread with a spindle wheel, we could use a water wheel to do the work for us. These kinds of ideas were what originally sparked the central concept of an industrial revolution. Humans could start mass producing things like iron, coal, textiles, lumber, at rates which we had never seen before, because we were no longer at the novelty of lack of human endurance. So in the late 19th century, with the simultaneous discoveries of gas and electricity, we, collectively as a human race, decided that we were going to take it to the “next level,” if you will. And it helped! A lot! Engines, motors, lightning rods, textiles were more comfortable, lightbulbs, plastic, they all made living a breeze, and it worked. For a while. I think it goes without saying that it really messed up the environment, because I can guarantee that you have heard at least one speech from at least one person at least once at this school. But the fact that we have been saying the same things like “we need to stop climate change” and “climate change will bring about the end of the world,” it begs the question, can we really stop climate change?

I think it goes without saying that it really messed up the environment, because I can guarantee that you have heard at least one speech from at least one person at least once at this school. But the fact that we have been saying the same things like “we need to stop climate change” and “climate change will bring about the end of the world,” it begs the question, can we really stop climate change? As I stated earlier, Industrialization always has and will always continue to propel us forward as a society. So what are we doing right now, in the present, to aid with it? Well, for my first example, I’m sure you’ve all noticed an increase in electric vehicles on the road. That’s one way we’re propelling our society forward, by industrializing the idea of long-distance travel via clean energy. My second example is space travel. Organizations like NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin, launch rockets to space at rates we’ve never seen before in the history of humankind, in fact, in the past 11 years, SpaceX alone has launched 131 rockets into space, with the most recent being the Dart Mission, which took place on November 24, 2021, just hours before the time of me writing this. But the fact is, we do these things for a reason, a reason we should not have to face. This reason, as I stated earlier, is the fact that there are a lot of negative effects from the way we have been Industrializing in the past, we drive electric vehicles because we can't afford to spout more gas into the atmosphere than there already is! We send rocket ships to space, out of the fear that we may have to leave this planet for another! If you went back to 1760 and told some farmer who just installed a water mill beside his barn that what he just did might lead to us strapping ourselves to a metal tube and propelling ourselves through the air into the great unknown, do you think that farmer would believe you? Of course not! He’d probably try and have you burned at the stake but this is what 350 years of collectively, as a species, acting like a kid who broke into the matchbox will do to the Earth, and that is why we have to undo the actions of our species, which brings me to my third example. The Conference Of The Parties, also known as the COP Summit. The COP Summit is a global conference of many world leaders, who come together every year to discuss the future of industrialization. Pretty cool, right? WE’ve been doing it for 26 years now, and the 26th summit, or COP26, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland just ended a couple weeks ago. What they agreed to do is stop emitting greenhouse gasses completely by 2050! Kinda reminded me of a story I heard a while back. There once was an alcoholic. He was 90 years old when he decided to put the drink down for good. He decided it would be too hard to do overnight, so he said that over the course of the next 20 years, he would quit. Do you see what I’m getting at here? COP26, in my opinion, is not sustainable, and I really don’t think it will help the state of our planet very much in the long run. So that’s why it’s up to us, the everyday people of Earth, to make a difference. How can we do this?

Well in this part of the speech, I think this is where a lot of people would say something like “don’t litter, don’t use plastic straws, take reusable bags to the grocery store, etc.” And the reality is, yes, you can and should do this. This is proven to help. But next time you do something like, take a drive in your electric car, or use a metal water bottle instead of a plastic single-use one, I want you to think about why you’re doing it. Think about the past, present, and future of industrialization, and think of all the individual steps that led up to you making this decision, and how the aftermath of this decision will help propel our society forward, one step at a time, as Industrialization always has, because it won’t stop, but it can change. What I mean by that is Industrialization is nothing  more than a synonym for progress, and progress really just means forward-moving change. Remember this? I want you to put this out of your mind, and think of Industrialization under this definition, my definition, instead.

“General societal progress made by a series of human-made mechanical innovations throughout history, that decide the future of human and environmental upkeep and luxury.”

So if there’s one thing that I hope I didn’t do in this presentation is bore you. Because when I set out to write this speech, I realized that I pretty much chose a topic, or rather a variation of what is essentially the most stereotypical student speech topic, which is climate change, and I mean that with no disrespect to anyone who chose climate change as their speech topic, but I really wanted my speech to have meaning, so I thought the most honest way to get this point across was to break the fourth wall at some point, so, with that being said, I hope you were informed on the effects of my industrialization, I hope you were persuaded to change, if need be, I hope you weren't bored, and I hope you were motivated to keep pushing society forward. Thank you.

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This next piece is a monologue which I wrote specifically for this portfolio, entitled Steeped In The Flame. The subject of this story is a man who works mining coal. One day, his mining captain tells the worker that the captain has been visited by a spirit who told him that the industrialization to which he was contributing would actually be the downfall of society. When no one believes the mining captain, he decides to take a terrible action. I used several gothic elements in this piece, due to the fact that I wanted this piece to seem more sinister and spooky than the others. The main inspiration for this piece was the short story The Monkey’s Paw, by W. W. Jacobs. That short story was set in the Industrial Revolution as well, and is much darker than the other works that we have read, such as The Village Blacksmith or London, with many elements of horror, death, and gothic elements as well. I was also partially inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, which we watched a short film adaptation of just a few weeks prior to my writing this. I was inspired by the event of a visitation of a certain spirit warning of an ominous future. When trying to formulate an idea for what this ‘spirit’ should be, I realised that I had just written an entire poem about a spirit, so I thought I would reuse said spirit for this piece. As a result, this story you are about to read is somewhat of a direct sequel to my poem about the creature, who, despite being undetectable by humans, somehow communicates with a man on Earth.

Saturday, October 17th, 1897

Another dreary day on the outskirts. The clouds rolled and the skies wept a small but honest tear, almost as if a reflection of the citizens below. I lifted myself from my endearing bed, suited into my uniform, and trudged down the stairs, out of the front door, and down the street to the mine in which I worked. I grabbed my pickaxe and headlamp, and joined the rest of the men with a small number of mumbled grunts of, "Hello, how are you?" and so on and so forth. As per usual however, a hush came over us all when our mining captain, Captain Gillespie, stepped into the shaft. He signaled to the lift operator, who closed the gate and pulled the lever which lowered us down into the coal mine. The day was a fruitful one, and we hauled a slight bit more coal than expected. When we came up at the end of the day, Captain Gillespie gave us our weekly dismissal for Sunday mass, giving us the day off to show our devotion to the Lord. I ate a good supper, and went to bed quite content.

Sunday, October 18th, 1897

This morning, I found myself quite surprised to see that Gillespie was not at mass today. Quite a strange sight, I thought. But even stranger was the fact that as I departed the church hall, turned and saw Gillespie, standing next to the building, white as a ghost and shaking. He approached me and said he wished to speak to me. He told me that someone had visited him in the night. He said couldn’t see it or hear it, but that it spoke to him from inside his head. When I asked him what it said, he replied with disgusting words. A psalm of misanthropy and despair left his tongue and came into my ears. He told me, “Leave your job. Stop contributing to this industrial madness, for it will be the downfall of mankind! Heed my dissuasion, please!” I paid it no mind. I told him that I had no intention of quitting my job, and when I dismissed him as crazy, he started babbling to himself, walked away into the street, and disappeared. When I retired to my bed that night, I could not help but ponder what he had said. Was this revolution really going to bring about the end of the human race? No, how could it? It put food on my table, and the coal went to good use of those by whom it was used. So sad when a good man loses his mind. That same night, I received a letter from the mining company, informing me that we would have our first day with a new mining captain the next day.

Thursday, April 27th, 1898

Life has become treacherous and strained. It is nothing like it was mere months ago. Many innocents have fallen on hard times. The air has become most foul, reeking of smoke and filth. Our new captain, the gruff and burly Captain Finch, awaited us in the gear room. “Gentlemen!", he greeted us with a stern voice. We grabbed our things, and marched down through the small town to the mine. As we walked through the gathering of people, my looks upon their faces were met with woe, desperation, sadness, and fear. Not the kind of fear you feel when a friend spooks you in the beast’s vizard, or when looking down from an unnerving height, but the kind of futile fear where you don’t know if you’ll have food on the table that evening, or if your child will come down with an incurable disease on the morrow, or if your town will go up in flames, all accented with the near insufferable knowledge that you may not do anything about it. As we shuffled into the shaft, I was practically knocked over by a small, hunched, shifty-looking weasel of a man running to the middle of the crowd. I hadn’t seen him before, he must have been a new addition to the group. I thought it might have been in his best interest to mind his manners if he wished to continue the occupation. We lowered down the ominous, abysmal shaft, into the pitch black mine. We switched on our headlamps, and got to the strenuous, sweaty, taxing task of slinging coal. We were only roughly half an hours’ time into the session, when we heard a sound that made everyone stop, terrified, and turn around. The sound of a match being struck. The match was being held in the gloved hand of the same, small man who had shoved his way into me earlier. I was shocked on sight, to say the least, but when I studied the man’s face closer, I noticed something to my great horror. The hateful, fear-filled man at whom I cast my gaze, was none other than my former captain, Gillespie. I didn’t see it at first, mostly attributed to the fact that he was not really him, merely a shrivelled husk of the man he once was. I remember how he had said something about something speaking to him. I brushed it off back then, but now I began to wonder if some otherworldly force had really contacted him. Perhaps I should have listened, but it was too late now. His eyes connected with mine, and I felt the harsh coldness of his gaze. “To hell with us all,” he said. Finch lunged at him, but not before he had released his grasp on the match. We all watched in despair, as the match fell slowly, and hit the cold, black ground.