The year 1819 in England was notable for the quality, value and topicality of its literature, while parliamentary and political reforms were widely demanded, especially by "Romantic" writers. This book argues that the writing demonstrates an awareness of its place both in history, and as history.

List of IllustrationsPrefaceAbbreviationsIntroduction: Works and Days Pt. 1: The "Historical Situation" of RomanticismCh. 1: Specificity after Structuralism: Dating the "Return to History" Ch. 2: An Art of the State: Historicism and the Measures of Uneven Development Ch. 3: Representing Culture, Romanticizing Contradiction: The Politics of Literary Exemplarity Ch. 4: Altering the Case: The Invention of the Historical Situation Pt. 2: Reading England in 1819Ch. 5: Reopening the Case of Scott Ch. 6: Byron's Causes: The Moral Mechanics of Don Juan Ch. 7: An "1819 Temper": Keats and the History of PsycheCh. 8: Concerning the Influence of America on the Mind: Western Settlements, "English Writers," and the Case of U.S. Culture Ch. 9: The Case of "The Case of Shelley" Ch. 10: History's Lyre: The "West Wind" and the Poet's Work Index