The poetics of national and racial identity in nineteenth century American literature I: The poetics of national identity 1. We are five and forty : meter and national identity in Sir Walter Scott 2. Our sacred union. our beloved Apalachia : nation and genius loci in Hawthorne and Simms II: The poetics of racial identity 3. Of me and of mine : the music of racial identity 4. Blood will tell : literary effects and the diagnosis of racial instinct The conservation of identities Examining the literary history of racial and national identity in nineteenth century America Kerkering tells the story of how poetry helped define America as a nation before helping to define America into distinct racial categories. Through formal literary effects national and racial identities become related elements of a single literary history; Geschichte 1800 1900