[Dave Musgrove]

Just had this in from a reader called Tatjana Schmidt. I'm not going to be able to use it in the letters page, but perhaps I'm missing something - are BBC History Magazine readers regularly inspired to write poetry about the past?

'Extensive study of the Industrial Revolution and, particularly, the textile industry have inspired me to write this poem, which intends to tell the story in a more positive light. I think this is something to be proud of, so many people having been involved in it. It has been is a major component of British history.
Thank you for reading,
Tatjana Schmidt'


Textile Industry

Once a weaver unassuming
over loom and shuttle bent,
weaving cloth with all his pride--
There’s never too much effort spent.

When inventive times had come,
within only a few years,
all the weaver’s work was done
by wheels and shafts and gears.

Someone built a little factory
that was quite original then.
Here, once many years ago,
this great industry began.

Machines are clever new discoveries
that now can spin and weave,
so goods evolve in factories
by water or by steam.

A new era of technology
replaced the weaver’s skills;
multi-spindle mules and power looms,
all are put to work in mills.

But without the weaver’s expertise
how could it be done right?
Machines do need attending to;
here are many processes combined.

Any product much faster is made
with inventions that are new,
though for every inch of it
there’s yet much work to do!