In the following excerpt, Muendel gives an overview of Meredith's poetry apart from Modern Love, emphasizing Meredith's concern for aesthetic philosophy. She characterizes Meredith as a clumsy, overwrought poet in much of his work, and reserves highest praise for his earlier poetry.

In the following excerpt, Mermin sees Modern Love as a turning point in Meredith's career, from poet to novelist. Mermin proposes that the narrative style of the poem suggests a type of psychological realism and awareness of time that is characteristic of Victorian novels.

In the following essay, Golden considers Meredith's poem within the generic tradition of the sonnet sequence. Comparing the sonnets of Modern Love to Petrarchan and Shakespearean forms, Golden suggests that Meredith's adaptation of poetic tradition parallels his depiction of a marriage that outwardly adheres to traditional forms but suffers from modern sentimentality.

In the following essay, Watt employs the concept of neurosis to interpret the thoughts and behavior of the husband in Modern Love. Watt reads the husband's actions as symptomatic of his narcissism and his subconscious desire for a reunion with the Mother.

In the following essay, Fletcher focuses on the parallels between Modern Love and Shakespeare's Othello in order to highlight Meredith's development of psychology and character. In this essay, the critic refers to the individual sonnets comprising Modern Love as sections of the larger poem.

In the following essay, Ostrom suggests that the “incomplete tragic resolution” of Modern Love demonstrates the particularly Victorian sensibility of the poem and is linked to the Victorian loss of faith in meaning.