With a novelist's insight and eye for detail, A.S. Byatt examines the relationship between Wordsworth and Coleridge against the background of the great changes of their times - in society, politics, education and literature. As she charts their personal lives, traces the growth of their ideas, and shows how these are reflected in their work, readers are presented with pictures not only of the two poets themselves, but also of their families, friends and contemporaries, including Southey, de Quincey, Lamb, Hazlitt, Byron and Keats.