Beauty Spot, Blind Spot: Romantic Wales

Abstract

Romantic-period Wales was a fascinating place: part literary construct, part tourist destination, it appears in the work of many writers as a locus of alternative possibilities, both political and personal. Welsh landscape, language and literature attracted poets, artists, antiquarians and historians alike, and an energetic literary cultural revival within Wales produced a rich blend of texts, legends and fabrications which would inspire makers of both fiction and history on either side of the border. The questions of national and cultural allegiance at the heart of this revival are of profound importance to current discussions of ‘British’ identity, particularly in the light of so-called ‘four nations’ criticism. This article argues that the Welsh contribution to British Romanticism has been seriously neglected by Romantic studies in general. It suggests reasons for this neglect, surveys recent work in the field, and points to future possible directions for research.