Victorian Poetry is a major re-evaluation of the genre by one of the leading scholars of the period. In a work both comprehensive and astute, the author demonstrates the sophisticaiton of Victorian poetry, rescuing it from its longstanding image as `a moralized form of romantic verse'.

Armstrong brings together the familiar poets of the era: Swinburne, Tennyson, Hopkins and Browning, and relates them to female and working-class poets. The aesthetics and politics of Victorian poetrym both conservative and radical, are then examined and brought together in a historical discussion that challenges some of the vital issues in contemporary criticism.

This volume marks an acheivement in the appreciation and understanding of Victorian literature, re-reading Victorian poetry from the midst of contemporary debate.