Synopses & Reviews
This landmark biography of celebrated Romantic poet John Keats explodes entrenched conceptions of him as a delicate, overly sensitive, tragic figure. Instead, Nicholas Roe reveals the real flesh-and-blood poet: a passionate man driven by ambition but prey to doubt, suspicion, and jealousy; sure of his vocation while bitterly resentful of the obstacles that blighted his career; devoured by sexual desire and frustration; and in thrall to alcohol and opium. Through unparalleled original research, Roe arrives at a fascinating reassessment of Keats's entire life, from his early years at Keats's Livery Stables through his harrowing battle with tuberculosis and death at age 25. Zeroing in on crucial turning points, Roe finds in the locations of Keats's poems new keys to the nature of his imaginative quest.
Roe is the first biographer to provide a full and fresh account of Keats's childhood in the City of London and how it shaped the would-be poet. The mysterious early death of Keats's father, his mother's too-swift remarriage, living in the shadow of the notorious madhouse Bedlamand#8212;all these affected Keats far more than has been previously understood. The author also sheds light on Keats's doomed passion for Fanny Brawne, his circle of brilliant friends, hitherto unknown City relatives, and much more. Filled with revelations and daring to ask new questions, this book now stands as the definitive volume on one of the most beloved poets of the English language.
Review
'An astonishinglyand#160; fresh and observant new biography, with a magical sense of shifting moods and places. Meticulously researched and precisely visualised, it produces a kind of hypnotic video portrait of Keats, day-by-day and sometimes hour-by-hour. The fine evocation of the poetand#8217;s disturbed City childhood is brilliantly fed back into the complex imagery of the later poetry. Above all perhaps, Roeand#8217;s deep knowledge of Keatsand#8217;s wide and raffish circle of London friends and#8211; Hunt, Haydon, Brown, Hazlitt, Lamb, Reynolds, Severn and all the others and#8211; makes us see the poet from multiple angles, in all his fierce contradictions, so sympathetic and so strangely modern.' - Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
Review
"This new book promises to become the definitive biography of one of the major Romantic poets. Keats has of course been well served by biographers, but what Roe adds to these Lives is his own superbly detailed, finely discriminating understanding of and research into the events of Keats's life, of individuals in his family and wider circle, and of the larger historical contexts in which the poet lived and wrote. The result is a book that supplements in countless minor details what is already known about the poet. For decades to come, readers and scholars of Keats will rely on the wealth of detail that Roe has uncovered and recorded."and#8212;Andrew Bennett, author of Keats, Narrative and Audience: The Posthumous Life of Writing
Review
andquot;This newand#160;bookand#160;promises to becomeand#160;the definitive biography of one of the majorand#160;Romantic poets. For decades to come, readers and scholars of Keats will rely on the wealth of detail that Roe has uncovered and recorded.andquot;andmdash;Andrewand#160;Bennett, author of Keats, Narrative and Audience: The Posthumous Life of Writing
Review
andldquo;A tightly focused and highly useful biography . . . [that] acutely displays the intensity, anguish and triumph of a great life.andrdquo;andmdash;Kirkus Reviewsand#160;(starred review)
Review
andquot;A wonderful work that has many new things to say about Keats, his extraordinary work and inner life. A finer biography is unlikely to emerge this year.andquot;andmdash;Ian Thomson, Financial Times
Review
andldquo;[A] sumptuously written biography . . . Roe sees complex connections between the poetandrsquo;s life and art that have eluded other biographers. . . . Poetic in its own right, this absorbing book is a masterly study of its subject.andrdquo;andmdash;Publishers Weekly
Review
andldquo;Roeandrsquo;s is a remarkable achievement, authoritative and imaginative to a degree that should make all future Keats biographers quail.andrdquo;andmdash;andndash;John Carey, Sunday Times
Review
andldquo;A fine biography full of the sharp sense of place and particularity that distinguishes Roeandrsquo;s earlier workandrdquo; andndash; Seamus Perry, Literary Review
Review
and#8220;There have been many fine biographies of Keats since the warand#8230;. But none, I think, conveys quite so well as this one the sense of Keats as a poet of the London suburbs. Roe reconstructs beautifully the milieu from which he and his friends all came, on the northern edge of the city where they had their day jobs and dreamed of fame.and#8221;and#8212;Ferdinand Mount, The Spectator
Review
and#8220;This absorbing, diligently researched biography draws us into the North London homes of Keatsand#8217;s circle, imagining even the warmth of the fireplace as the poets challenged each other to sonnet-writing competitions.and#8221;and#8212;New Yorkerand#160;
Review
"Roes very thorough new biography is full of scruple. It reminds us that, for all that the letters reveal Keatss ‘inward mind, there are still many uncertainties, many gaps in our knowledge… He brings Keatss environment more alive than any previous biographer."—Jonathan Bate, Times Literary Supplement New Yorker
Review
and#8220;Roe writes well and clearly. . . . [his] engagement with Keats is deep and unflagging.. . . Something of what it felt like to be around John Keats remains, as things do when truly experienced.and#8221;and#8212;Marcia Karp,and#160;
Arts FuseReview
"John Keats: A New Life has much to recommend it. . . . [Roe] comes to his mighty task with superb credentials . . . [and] writes, moreover, with reportorial crispness."—Michael Dirda, Weekly Standard Marcia Karp - Arts Fuse
Review
"Keats is still popularly thought of as wan and delicate, but Roe's biography firmly readjusts that. . . Roe's is a remarkable achievement, authoritative and imaginative to a degree that should make all future Keats biographer quail" —John Carey, The Sunday Times New Yorker
Review
"Roe's determination to make us look again at the Keats we think we know is admirable."—Ian Pindar, The Guardian John Carey - Sunday Times
Review
“Far from being the handkerchief dabbling swain of popular Romantic stereotyping, Roe gives us a picture of Keats that matches the ‘Cockney poet tag used by the then Tory press.”—Michael Conaghan,
Belfast Telegraph Ian Pindar - The Guardian
Review
“Roes focus on Keatss early life challenges many of the things we think we know about the poet, bringing to the fore instead the sudden death of his father when he was very young, his mothers indecently hasty remarriage, and the familys social and financial decline. The impact of these events finds traces not only in the poetry, which Roe examines closely to show a truly radical poet in his challenging of traditional forms, but also in the later life, where is where we find a much more determined individual than we might have imagined.”—Lesley McDowell,
Independent on Sunday Michael Conaghan - Belfast Telegraph
Review
“This authoritative and original new biography of John Keats gives a fresh perspective on the life of a renowned poet who, despite his tragic early death from tuberculosis at the age of twenty five, remains one of the principle figures of the Romantic movement, providing influence and inspiration for generations . . . Exploring established biographical detail alongside hitherto overlooked aspects of the poets career and formative years, Roe creates a meticulous and absorbing portrait of a dedicated genius and literary innovator.”—The Good Book Guide Lesley McDowell - Independent on Sunday
Review
Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the English American Category. Michael Dirda - Weekly Standard
Synopsis
An entirely new portrait of Keats, rich with insights into the torments of his life and the imaginative sources of his works
About the Author
Nicholas Roe is professor of English, University of St. Andrews. He is the author of numerous biographical and critical works on writers of the Romantic period. He lives in Scotland.