Bolton examines a broad range of Robert Southey's writing to explore the relationship between Romantic literature and colonial politics during the expansion of Britain's second empire. After decades of neglect, Southey's centrality to Romantic period culture is at last being recognized. Bolton's study draws upon a wide range of interdisciplinary materials to consider the impact of his work upon nineteenth-century views of empire. She situates Southey's histories, biographies, journalism and epic poetry within their historical and geographical contexts to argue that his widely transmitted views on leadership, duty and global responsibility constituted a moral imperialism that formed Victorian values.