Wales, Romanticism, and the Making of Imperial Culture

Forging an Empire: Wales, Romanticism, and the Construction of British Identity

At the dawn of the eighteenth century, “British” was synonymous with Welsh identity. As the nation and empire grew, Britishness expanded to encompass a broader, more inclusive sense of self. Simultaneously, writers aimed to create a novel British literary tradition.

Timothy Heimlich argues that these shifts were deeply connected. He reveals how Wales was simultaneously essential to and erased fro…