ABSTRACT
From the late 18th century, writers were seriously concerned with the adverse effects of industry on the environment, and particularly in the lives of the poor. The environmental ideal was theological: a biblical Eden lost to sin; a world sanctified by its creation by God; the glorious hymns to the natural world in the Psalms, recited daily in synagogue and church. This ideal was destroyed by the Industrial Revolution. As modern science, technology, and medicine gave human beings increasing control over the environment, the harmful consequences and accompanying moral questions became major issues, reflected in literature. The writings of Blake, Wordsworth, Dickens, Gaskell, Mendele, Zola, and Chekhov, among others, voice the sufferings of the poor as their environment deteriorated amid unprecedented population growth, and industry destroyed the landscape, polluted the air, and made the water undrinkable.
