British engineer Sir Charles Algernon Parsons invented the first modern steam turbine, a multi-stage reaction turbine designed to drive an electrical generator. This prototype, built in Newcastle upon Tyne, generated 7.5 kW of electricity. The steam turbine was a revolutionary advance, enabling the efficient generation of electricity and transforming marine propulsion, as it was smaller, smoother, and more powerful than reciprocating engines.

Parsons' steam turbine is a pivotal invention in the age of electricity, a theme that permeates 20th-century poetry. The turbine's ability to generate clean, abundant power at the turn of a switch became a symbol of progress and the new technological sublime, inspiring poets to imagine a world transformed by electric light and power.