An astounding volume ... a blessing ... deeply thoughtful but eminently approachable essays ... including Bevis's concise but masterful introduction ... The Oxford Handbook should, indisputably, find its way to the shelves of every university library ... it will no doubt be a source of rich reflective scholarship for generations of researchers.
The Year's Work in English Studies
Impressive ... a substantial volume ... essays in Matthew Bevis's The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Poetry may be regarded as marking something of a breakthrough.
Victorian Poetry
All of the essays are well informed, wisely crafted, and meticulously edited.
Choice
Bevis's editorial work combines rigour with play ... [he] gives us a book which is united by its refusal to conform to any one pattern or mould ... The essays [on form] ... are full of flair and reflexive comedy ... The section on 'Literary Landscapes' impresses with its originality and strength ... Bevis's volume is particularly strong for the way in which it unsettles chronological and generic boundaries ... The final section on 'The Place of Poetry' offers intriguing collisions ... Perhaps the greatest pleasure of this book is the editor's resistance to simplification ... The Handbook can act as a useful scholarly touchstone, but it is much more than this.
Sophie Ratcliffe, Tennyson Research Bulletin