Synopses & Reviews
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. In this close narrative study, Stanley Plumly meditates on the chances for poetic immortality, an idea that finds its purest expression in Keats. Incisive in its observations and beautifully written, Posthumous Keats is an ode to an unsuspecting young poet—a man who, against the odds of his culture and critics, managed to achieve the unthinkable: the elevation of the lyric poem to sublime and tragic status.
Review
"A beautiful book. . . . [W]hen Plumly turns his laser-like gaze on Keats' letters and his verse, the book is brilliant." Nicholas Delbanco
Review
Mr. Plumly writes beautifully and very movingly. --Charles McGrath
Review
Plumly has written a book to last: worthy of its subject and commensurate with both words of its title. --Robert Pinsky
Synopsis
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. In this close narrative study, Stanley Plumly meditates on the chances for poetic immortality, an idea that finds its purest expression in Keats. Incisive in its observations and beautifully written, is an ode to an unsuspecting young poet--a man who, against the odds of his culture and critics, managed to achieve the unthinkable: the elevation of the lyric poem to sublime and tragic status.
Synopsis
This is the result of 20 years of reflection on the part of the author on the enduring afterlife of one of England's greatest Romantic poets. Keats, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 25, saw his mortality as fatal to his poetry and therein, Plumly argues, lies his tragedy.
Synopsis
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. In this close narrative study, Stanley Plumly meditates on the chances for poetic immortality, an idea that finds its purest expression in Keats. Incisive in its observations and beautifully written, Posthumous Keatsis an ode to an unsuspecting young poet'"a man who, against the odds of his culture and critics, managed to achieve the unthinkable: the elevation of the lyric poem to sublime and tragic status.
Synopsis
A Los Angeles Times Favorite Book and a Washington Post Best of 2008: “A book worthy of Keats—full of feeling and drama and those fleeting moments we call genius.”—Ted Genoways, Washington Post Book World
Synopsis
A Favorite Book and a Best of 2008: "A book worthy of Keats--full of feeling and drama and those fleeting moments we call genius."--Ted Genoways,
About the Author
Stanley Plumly's many awards include the Delmore Schwartz and William Carlos Williams Awards and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.