Introduction

This chapter explores the development of distinctly national literary agendas in Romantic-era Britain, as well as it examines devolutionary approaches to Angloor English-centric Romanticism. The chapter considers each of the four 'nations': England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as separate public spheres or distinctive systems of cultural production rather than merely as peripheral voices, but it also explains the possibility of a more cohesive British national identity following the Acts of Union. It highlights the existence of separate public spheres and national literary agendas in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. The chapter examines the importance of regional Romanticisms such as West Country regional cultures in contesting the kind of overarching conceptions of 'Englishness' that works by Austen and Wordsworth imply. It discusses the importance of in-between locations such as seas and rivers in creating opportunities for shifting national boundaries and fluid identities in Romantic-era writing.