The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory (concise edition)

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, innovative anthology
Review: It's raining Victorian poetry anthologies--*heavy* Victorian poetry anthologies. Collins and Rundle have produced an intriguing textbook that combines selections from both famous and lesser-known figures with Victorian writings on poetic theory. The selections are well-chosen, including good chunks of *The Ring and the Book* and *Aurora Leigh* along with all of *Modern Love* and *The City of Dreadful Night.* (It is particularly nice to see the latter.) Women are nicely represented by poems from Augusta Webster, Amy Levy, Michael Field, and the Bronte sisters, among many others. Teachers thus have the flexibility to construct anything from a traditional course, focusing on the major authors like Tennyson, Arnold, and the Brownings, to a course on women, later poets (the 1880s and 90s are well-represented), and so forth. Moreover, the double-columned text is set in a readable font (a feature not to be underestimated!). The anthology's primary failing, however, lies in its virtually non-existent annotation; what *is* there is often spectacularly unhelpful. Headnotes could also have been fuller. Overall, however, this is a notable achievement.