Chris Soulies

Dr. Schroeder

Romantic Literature Mid Term

10/31/16

Michael by William Wordsworth: How the Dawn Capitalism Eclipsed the Hopes of Men

William Wordsworths Michael is a true tale of loss and human suffering during the

dawn of the Industrial Revolution. While the sun set on the predominance of Agricultural

Feudalism, this poem illustrates how the rise of industry and capitalism destroys the family unit,

generations of tradition and skill as well as the individual. Capitalism has filled many a mind

with delusions of grandeur only to lure them into wage slavery and class war. This paper will

explore the poem, its characters and events and attempt to assign responsibility for the familys

devastating losses.

The poem begins with Wordsworth enjoying one of his many trips into nature in order to

escape the city. He tells of an area of utter solitude until he notices a pile of stone clearly

placed there by people. It is here the poem changes pace. These stones relay a story of man, the

heart of man and human life. The reader is then jarred out of the picturesque beauty of the land

and forced to contemplate the reason and fate of this unfinished project lying in the center of the

wilderness.

Wordsworth introduces us to a shepherd family who lives on land and in a cottage passed

down from generation to generation at a cost free as the wind. The father, Michael, spends his

days working the land and protecting the sheep while his wife, Isabel, works within the cottage
caring for the heir of the land, their son, Luke, and contributes to the wealth of the family with

her spinning. They are hardworking and frugal, slowly building wealth. They both own their

means of production and are the lifeblood of their small but honest empire.

But there is a problem. Years before this story took place, Michael mortgaged part of his

land in order to finance a nephews pursuits to be a captain of Londons industry. It was a plan

that seemed to have worked quite well until some sort of misfortune (personal or market we

dont know) fell upon the nephew leaving him unable to pay his debts. This resulted in Michael

having to forfeit the mortgaged parcels in order to keep the lad, assumedly, from debtors prison.

Michael then devised a plan to save the land, a plan very similar to the one that begat all this

trouble in the first place. The plan was to send their son, Luke, who recently turned 18, into the

hands of a wealthy relative in London so Luke could earn enough capital to gain back the lost

land and clear the family from debt so the land could be his and the family way secured in the

hills outside the city. His wife, comforted by a story of a parish boy that became a wealthy

investor and philanthropist, agrees and they send him to London immediately. Luke and his

father share one final moment of Agricultural Feudalism in the field as they discuss the

construction of a sheep fold. This scene is very similar to the vows and rock towers read about in

the Old Testament and, although unknown to the duo at the time, would be violated over time by

greed, the taproot of capitalism.

Luke goes on to London and, through a series of events and the pressures of a society he

has never trained to live in, falls into vice and bad dealings. He finds that his only escape to flee

overseas, presumably to America, to avoid prison. The reader is reminded of the story of the

parish boy, Richard Bateman, and will be forced to wonder how plans can go so well for some

and so wrong for others. Who is to blame for Lukes downfall? We will explore this by looking
at the effects (both good and bad) Industrial Revolution and Capitalism as well as Agricultural

Feudalism has had on the stars of this poem.

The life under Agricultural Feudalism isnt a pathway to riches nor is it a leisurely life. A

family under this system will live simply and frugally as these are the folk which invent such

mottos as waste not, want not. They will never build massive wealth, never retire yet they will

be able to provide for themselves and their loved ones while providing land and a place in the

world to their children. The system is not without its drawbacks but also enjoys some benefits

that the wealthy often wish they could participate in but at the same time and the AgFeuds will

often peer over the walls of class and dream of living the good life.

We are always striving for something else, something we perceive as better. These are the

effects of this new era and the rise of the dark satanic mills.

The life of a capitalist is a stark difference to their country-bound brethren. Under this

system, quick wealth with the potential for financial security is possible. We see this illustrated in

the story about Richard Bateman but the opposite is also true as we see in the life of Michaels

nephew and how the ramifications can touch the lives of many with far reaching consequences.

This life is a gamble, the rewards can far outweigh the risks but failure is often catastrophic and

difficult to recover from.

These two systems met at a time long ago and capitalism won the duel as society saw the

creation of industry and a seemingly rich promise for everyone. What has happened, as Engels

warned us about and many a poet wept over was a society separated by class. Most people

unable to own anything outside a few scraps of disposable and transportable trinkets while a

select few, labeled as the captains of industry by Thomas Carlyle, rule the land with wealth,

power and influence.

 So, who is to blame for the events written about in this poem? Is it Michael through his

error of purchasing stock in his nephews dream? Id say not as this man was doing what his

people have always done; take care of their own. Was it the mother by being in awe of the

success story of Richard Bateman? No, indeed. She saw a chance to not only save her land and

way of life but a chance to see her son live a little better that they. What doting mother wouldnt

be enamored by such prospects? What of the nephews father or the village people (I know

youre singing, stop it)? Nay, these people had not the time to learn about the dangers of profit

and industry, they bought into the promise as so many do even to this day when people should

know better. One cannot blame the characters in this story as you would have to blame every

person that was ever duped by empty promise of the free market. So who?

The answer is not who, but what, and that what isnt a sociopolitical system nor a

government (although these certainly serve to propagate the what) it is greed. The desire for

something outside what we have, what is available to us, what has been passed down and secure.

The false needs that are merely wants that cause us to seek more and more all the while leaving

behind family, friends, society to fend for themselves as we pursue a dream. This is the seed

from which the satanic mills were sown. The unfinished sheepfolds stand almost unseen the

midst of the sprawling cancer created each and every day by capitalism, these seeds, these lies of

the promise of wealth, sprouted the weeds that surrounded and choked out man, the heart of

man and human life. No one can be blamed, greed has existed since the dawn of time which is

richly illustrated in the biblical account of creation where life was not enough, what was given to

the first couple was insufficient and they reached for more which resulted in banishment from the

very first gardens of utter solitude.