This work investigates the complex intellectual and aesthetic relationship between William Shakespeare and the writers of the Romantic period. David Fuller, an academic scholar, examines how Romantic poets and critics interpreted, adapted, and were fundamentally shaped by Shakespearean drama. The text utilizes historical analysis and close readings of primary source materials to argue that the Romantics constructed a specific, idealized version of Shakespeare to serve their own literary agendas.

Scholars recognize this text as a specialized contribution to the field of reception history. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for students and researchers of English literature.