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Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography
Posthumous Keats is the result of Stanley Plumly's twenty years of reflection on the enduring afterlife of one of England's greatest Romanticists. John Keats's famous epitaph "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water" helped cement his reputation as the archetype of the genius cut off before his time. Keats, dead of tuberculosis at twenty-five, saw his mortalit...more
Hardcover, 392 pages
Published
May 1st 2008
by W. W. Norton & Company
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I just recently finished Stanley Plumly’s Posthumous Keats, which was quite a good read. The book is part biography, part memoir, part literary criticism. Specifically, the book covers the last 18 months of Keats’s life and beyond, the moment from his first hemorrhage to final days in Rome. Each chapter covers in detail an aspect of Keats’s posthumous existence. For example, the first chapter deals with the epitaph on Keats’s tomb in the protestant cemetery in Rome. Keats wanted only “Here lies ...more
I think I shall be among the English Poets after my death.
- John Keats to his brother George.
Here lies one whose name was writ in water.
- Keats’s epitaph, written by him just before he died
John Keats is the epitome—ah, alas!—of the genius artist who died too young. The ravage of tuberculosis felled him early after he wrote his immortal poems and—equally immortal—a large collection of the most illuminating, often funny and quick-witted, and astonishingly modern lette...more
- John Keats to his brother George.
Here lies one whose name was writ in water.
- Keats’s epitaph, written by him just before he died
John Keats is the epitome—ah, alas!—of the genius artist who died too young. The ravage of tuberculosis felled him early after he wrote his immortal poems and—equally immortal—a large collection of the most illuminating, often funny and quick-witted, and astonishingly modern lette...more
Beautifully written in parts and with a real love of and affinity for Keats' life and work. He has mastered this subject, and then some- he has got to know more about Keats' late works and days than pretty much anyone in the world.
Problem for me was, this obvious boon was the book's bane at the same time. I got way too weighed down as a reader with the almost slavish attention paid to the history of the actual texts- which is certainly interesting, but to a point.
...more
This is really a great read, beautifully written by a poet obviously on Keat's side, and worthily... And for those of us who write poems, takes into account one's hopeful and probably unknown and unknowable posthumosity (great new word I just invented... use with caution!). Along the way we get a feel for both Keats and his peers and friends... I'm still reading it!
Plumly notes that he has been reading and thinking about Keats' life and work for about as long as the poet was alive. This beautiful collection of essays about Keats' poetry and his life - focusing on his last three years is a rich and satisfying read.
Keats was one of my major studies in college; he remains one of my favorite poets. "To Autumn" is one of the most perfect poems ever, anywhere.
Keats was one of my major studies in college; he remains one of my favorite poets. "To Autumn" is one of the most perfect poems ever, anywhere.
I wanted a book about the poetry, but this is mostly about turning Keats into a fetish.
This is for the reader who already knows the bare bones of Keats' life. Plumly assumes that knowledge and proceeds to write some strange (and obscure) stories like the making of the death mask of Keats and some very telling letters he wrote to Fanny Brawne, revealed only after her death. To be honest, it was a slow start, but the final chapters were riveting, to me. Plumly probably recommends the Amy Lowell biography of Keats because he referred to it glowingly at least four times by my count...more
Partly a biographical account, partly why Keats died as a penniless, anonymous man and now is on every lit classes' shelves, this raises excellent questions about whether art is only possible because we are mortal. One of the best parts for me was Plumly's inclusion of where/how Keats edited his writing between drafts, and the versions we know today.
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I read the first chapter of this book, which is a beautiful meditation on the last days of the life of the poet John Keats, a long time favorite of mine. The book, though is terribly sad, and I just don't think I have to fortitude to get through 11 chapters on Keats's death--so I've moved this over to books I won't finish.
Thoughtful close readings, but confusing in its lack of chronological narrative and often repetitive in thoughts conveyed. The chapter on Fanny Brawne was particularly well-drawn.
Reveals not only the great poet and his struggles and hardships but the strange story of how he became renowned (after his death).
plumly is wonderful..especially here, writing keats
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On May 23, 1939, Stanley Plumly was born to Herman and Esther Plumly in Barnesville, Ohio. Following Stanley's birth, the family moved from farm work to carpentry jobs and back to farm work in Virginia and Ohio. Plumly graduated from Wilmington College, a small work-study school in Ohio, in 1962. While he was in college, his writing talents were recognized and encouraged by the playwright-poet-tea...more
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