The poets of the mid-nineteenth century lived in a time of 'nation-building'. The Realms of Verse brings that political and intellectual context to life. It shows that the Italian Risorgimento raised questions about community and individual liberty which were especially problematic for subjects of the multi-national United Kingdom, and argues that these questions are at the heart of the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Browning, Tennyson, and Clough. Their long poems characteristically tell stories about marriage, investigating the symbolic and actual interactions between that personal union and national unity. Their verse as a whole exploits correspondences between formal control and political government, and is alert to its own role in fostering a common culture. Historically detailed, theoretically astute, critically nimble, and stylishly written, The Realms of Verse is the most far-reaching reassessment of Victorian poetry to have been published in recent years.

Reynolds reads with penetrating freshness in the intricate verbal patterns of the poetry. Realms of Verse is an important contribution to the close scrutiny of mid-nineteenth century poetry. * Review of English Studies *
This is an important book, and has much to say to a contemporary critical readership still hooked on a relentlessly politicized poetics. * Notes and Queries *
Through meticulous and engaging close-readings, Reynolds offers excellent insights into the significance of contrasting poetic textures and techniques. * English Historical Review *
Attentive deftness alone makes the book worth reading. * The Tennyson Research Bulletin *
The core of Matthew Reynold's book is a series of close readings of major poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson. These readings are often brilliant - the closer the better. On metre, rhyme, enjambment, turn of phrase, Reynolds is acute and persuasive. The best critics, like the best poets (in Browning's words) "impart the gift of seeing to the rest". Reynolds has this gift of seeing and imparting. * Daniel Karlin, Times Literary Supplement *