Because he was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon and not a historian of the 18th/19th centuries. There's no Industrial Revolution in Anglo-Saxon mythology. Including

Because he was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon and not a historian of the 18th/19th centuries. There's no Industrial Revolution in Anglo-Saxon mythology. Including it would have jarred in a dyschronistic way. More than that, fantasy is based on nostalgia for heroic simplicity and straightforwardness, with a dash of magic to instil some child-like wonder. The Industrial Revolution operated on a completely different narrative and moral basis. It was more about colonisation at home, using mechanisation to organise forced labour. It's hard to be a brave Romantic hero in that kind of setting.