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John Keats: A New Life
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 Bedlam—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.
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 Bedlam—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.
446 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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517 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 12, 2013
Brilliant. Just brilliant. The biography by Andrew Motion has been my Keatsian bible for many many years now, and while I reluctantly began thinking it was probably about time for an update, I also dreaded the prospect. I really love and admire John Keats, and Motion was a big part of me getting to know him; I didn't want to lose my (always inadequate, always conditional) grasp on who Keats really was.
Of course I needn't have feared, and any courage needed certainly paid off. This is a great book, a truly great book, and I think it works perfectly as an addition to (or a complement of) Motion's work as well as the work of others.
My take on Motion's Keats is that he was both a poet and a medical man, a healer of both bodies and souls. Roe's Keats is a poet (full stop), and any return to his training or work as an apothecary would have been a turning away from his true self. Which is right? I don't know, but it's very interesting to consider the question in such detail.
Roe's strengths are in Keats' early years - his childhood and then right through to his time at Guy's Hospital - and in Keats' poetry - which is given terrific context in the poet's life and times, and thus enhanced meaning. Roe is also very knowledgeable about Keats' relationship with Leigh Hunt - which is no surprise as Roe is also Hunt's biographer.
Roe very interestingly touches on the idea that Keats was very conscious of passing time, and in particular the things that mark it: the anniversary of his father's death, the new or half or full moon, the date he announced his decision to be a poet to his friends, and so on. Keats even contrived to die late on the day of the ancient Roman festival Terminalia, which honoured the god of boundaries. I'm not entirely sure how seriously we are to take this, but there's no denying that Keats' work often deals in liminalities, and Roe certainly conjured a number of relevant happenings and images along the way to give credence to this - especially the late-night farewells between young Keats and his teacher Charles Cowden Clarke on the bridge between their homes.
There were certain areas of Keats' life that I felt weren't given much space on the page. Especially, but not only, Keats' love and fiancee Fanny Brawne. I'm not sure whether this is due to Roe deciding that such things had already been well covered (and I certainly think Motion does justice to Brawne). Or that 400 pages is enough, and something had to be dealt with truly though briefly. I'm hesitant to think that Roe didn't think Brawne important... I mean, OK we're not all interested in a man's love life, but she was important to Keats the man and Keats the poet - and Roe does give her her due, even if a little too succinctly - so let's go back to my initial thought of such things being covered well elsewhere.
Which takes me back further to the notion that this book is a great addition and complement to the existing work on Keats. And leads me on to the notion that perhaps, even for a life this short, there can never be a definitive 'Life'. Read this, and read Motion, and read as much of the rest as you like. Keats himself will repay you well.
Of course I needn't have feared, and any courage needed certainly paid off. This is a great book, a truly great book, and I think it works perfectly as an addition to (or a complement of) Motion's work as well as the work of others.
My take on Motion's Keats is that he was both a poet and a medical man, a healer of both bodies and souls. Roe's Keats is a poet (full stop), and any return to his training or work as an apothecary would have been a turning away from his true self. Which is right? I don't know, but it's very interesting to consider the question in such detail.
Roe's strengths are in Keats' early years - his childhood and then right through to his time at Guy's Hospital - and in Keats' poetry - which is given terrific context in the poet's life and times, and thus enhanced meaning. Roe is also very knowledgeable about Keats' relationship with Leigh Hunt - which is no surprise as Roe is also Hunt's biographer.
Roe very interestingly touches on the idea that Keats was very conscious of passing time, and in particular the things that mark it: the anniversary of his father's death, the new or half or full moon, the date he announced his decision to be a poet to his friends, and so on. Keats even contrived to die late on the day of the ancient Roman festival Terminalia, which honoured the god of boundaries. I'm not entirely sure how seriously we are to take this, but there's no denying that Keats' work often deals in liminalities, and Roe certainly conjured a number of relevant happenings and images along the way to give credence to this - especially the late-night farewells between young Keats and his teacher Charles Cowden Clarke on the bridge between their homes.
There were certain areas of Keats' life that I felt weren't given much space on the page. Especially, but not only, Keats' love and fiancee Fanny Brawne. I'm not sure whether this is due to Roe deciding that such things had already been well covered (and I certainly think Motion does justice to Brawne). Or that 400 pages is enough, and something had to be dealt with truly though briefly. I'm hesitant to think that Roe didn't think Brawne important... I mean, OK we're not all interested in a man's love life, but she was important to Keats the man and Keats the poet - and Roe does give her her due, even if a little too succinctly - so let's go back to my initial thought of such things being covered well elsewhere.
Which takes me back further to the notion that this book is a great addition and complement to the existing work on Keats. And leads me on to the notion that perhaps, even for a life this short, there can never be a definitive 'Life'. Read this, and read Motion, and read as much of the rest as you like. Keats himself will repay you well.
March 17, 2021
Nicholas Roe’s 2012 biography of John Keats is in many ways exemplary. It breaks new ground, revealing hitherto unknown information about Keats’s life, especially his origins and childhood. It traces each step of his brief life in remarkable detail. And its engagement with Keats’s poems is subtle and intuitive, teasing out autobiographical and intellectual resonances from hundreds of lines.
It also engages closely with Keats’s friends, associates, and contemporaries—and this was the one area where I struggled with Roe’s account. Though I have studied the Regency era for many years I know comparatively little about the aesthetic movements of the day and how they interacted with contemporary politics, and this account presumed more familiarity than I can claim. I wish Roe had put a little more effort into exposition of this crucial aspect of Keats’s intellectual landscape; some of the events and associations lost force from being taken for granted. A glance at Roe’s previous publications shows that he has covered those subjects at far greater length before writing this book, so he must have regarded these things as already said, and it is perhaps my fault for having read only this book. But, especially where Keats’s friend Leigh Hunt was concerned, I felt a bit like a stranger invited to dinner with a set of long-standing friends.
Still, I can’t praise highly enough Roe’s engagement with Keats’s creative processes, which took me deep into the poet’s mind and methods, allowing me to see the poems in their full context. And his sympathetic portrayal of Keats’s perpetually contingent life, separated from full engagement by the traumas and dislocations of his youth as well as by his class background, was enlightening and touching. This would be a must-read for anyone wanting to understand Keats’s work in depth.
It also engages closely with Keats’s friends, associates, and contemporaries—and this was the one area where I struggled with Roe’s account. Though I have studied the Regency era for many years I know comparatively little about the aesthetic movements of the day and how they interacted with contemporary politics, and this account presumed more familiarity than I can claim. I wish Roe had put a little more effort into exposition of this crucial aspect of Keats’s intellectual landscape; some of the events and associations lost force from being taken for granted. A glance at Roe’s previous publications shows that he has covered those subjects at far greater length before writing this book, so he must have regarded these things as already said, and it is perhaps my fault for having read only this book. But, especially where Keats’s friend Leigh Hunt was concerned, I felt a bit like a stranger invited to dinner with a set of long-standing friends.
Still, I can’t praise highly enough Roe’s engagement with Keats’s creative processes, which took me deep into the poet’s mind and methods, allowing me to see the poems in their full context. And his sympathetic portrayal of Keats’s perpetually contingent life, separated from full engagement by the traumas and dislocations of his youth as well as by his class background, was enlightening and touching. This would be a must-read for anyone wanting to understand Keats’s work in depth.
January 1, 2013
word and work gain an intimacy when
the day to day forging of them
is imagined. how, to know a keats
or a stone for that matter, felt
and then bashed or stroked the shore
of astonishment,
could it be any less supposed
for the product of it? no such coal--
diamond, and the weight, the wait,
of all that pressure, all that de-
composing bonematter...
the day to day forging of them
is imagined. how, to know a keats
or a stone for that matter, felt
and then bashed or stroked the shore
of astonishment,
could it be any less supposed
for the product of it? no such coal--
diamond, and the weight, the wait,
of all that pressure, all that de-
composing bonematter...
July 13, 2013
I am going to review this in full on my blog, but in the immediate aftermath so to speak I can say two things a) Nicholas Roe has Keats on the psychotherapist's couch b) it is fascinating but not entirely convincing. Too many 'he must have thought this' and 'he would have thought that' for my liking. But it is a fresh perspective,his childhood assuming a far greater influence on his poetry than previously assumed and brilliantly researched, especially in relation to Keats's early years and his immediate circle of friends. However he does seem to sideline his brothers and to a certain extent, Fanny Brawne.
The studies by Andrew Motion and Stanley Plumly still my personal favourites.
The studies by Andrew Motion and Stanley Plumly still my personal favourites.
December 23, 2022
The best Romantic biography I’ve read so far — beautifully written and incredibly touching, it’s the perfect introduction to the life and times of Keats. The last two chapters, capturing the horrors of Keat’s disease and the grim solemnity of his final writings, are especially heart-wrenching to read. A beautiful life from start to finish. The last sentence to Roe’s biography sums it up perfectly:
“Death had delayed coming to him until late on Friday, 23 February, for this was the Roman festival of Terminalia, sacred to limits and extremities like this darkling bridge on which John Keats paused, steadied himself as many times before, and stepped beyond tomorrow.”
“Death had delayed coming to him until late on Friday, 23 February, for this was the Roman festival of Terminalia, sacred to limits and extremities like this darkling bridge on which John Keats paused, steadied himself as many times before, and stepped beyond tomorrow.”
October 11, 2017
Beautifully written; the ending, maybe my favourite of any Keats biography - pretty sublime piece of writing.
Heavy on the lit crit and a bit lighter on the life, but then again, some life events put into useful perspective; Mr Roe worked out who Keats was in contact with, and who'd fallen off his friends map - at given points, which was useful to know. Great insight into Keats' childhood, and how that shaped his writing - more insight into this than other books.
I'm still curious to know more about Abbey - precisely what was he upto?
It also showed the holes in Keats' genealogy - not even sure if he was related to the local hat-making Keats, or the precise nature of Abbey's relationship with the Keatses... Also George's execrable behaviour in taking most of Keats' ready cash back with him to the US... So still some mysteries to be resolved, or areas to be drilled down into, more.
Enjoyed the book, and it offered a new perspective into someone whose letters and biographies I've been reading since I was a teenager. So I thought there were no new perspectives to be had.
Heavy on the lit crit and a bit lighter on the life, but then again, some life events put into useful perspective; Mr Roe worked out who Keats was in contact with, and who'd fallen off his friends map - at given points, which was useful to know. Great insight into Keats' childhood, and how that shaped his writing - more insight into this than other books.
I'm still curious to know more about Abbey - precisely what was he upto?
It also showed the holes in Keats' genealogy - not even sure if he was related to the local hat-making Keats, or the precise nature of Abbey's relationship with the Keatses... Also George's execrable behaviour in taking most of Keats' ready cash back with him to the US... So still some mysteries to be resolved, or areas to be drilled down into, more.
Enjoyed the book, and it offered a new perspective into someone whose letters and biographies I've been reading since I was a teenager. So I thought there were no new perspectives to be had.
May 30, 2021
John Keats by Nicholas Roe is both an excellent companion to Keats’ poetry, and also an inspirational account of the poet, who was to die at 25, leaving behind some of the greatest poems in the English language. Roe offers deep insight into understanding what shaped Keats’ poetry – his childhood tragedies, his often intense friendships, his encounter with literature, the politics of the time and the doomed love for Fanny Brawne. And by helping us understand Keats, Roe helps one draw closer to the definition of “beauty” – the elusive notion which Keats devoted his life and poetry to.
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Literarianism
March 13, 2021
I've read a number of Keats biographies and this one adds to our knowledge in several consequential ways: an improved understanding of Keats's formative years, particularly his psychological development in the wake of the death of his father in his youth (with profound resonance for Keats in later years as it coincided with Shakespeare's April 23 biographical birth and death dates). Roe buys the "pugnacious Keats" stories and incorporates them into his narrative. No calm, gentle, statuesque poet here - his words come from flesh and blood worries and desires. Roe also believes it very likely that Keats contracted syphilis, not an original claim but one usually passed over as unproveable. Roe seems to see some of the consequences of Keats's onsetting illness were probably exacerbated by taking mercury for syphilis.
We also see a likely brief but believably physical relationship with a young divorcee that Keats met at the Isle of Wight. It is certainly possible that the relationship could have been a physical one considering the timing and the nature of both people. But she is Rosaline to the Juliet of Fanny Brawne, and in Roe's construction, she doesn't dominate a large role. One gets the impression here that Roe is not as big of a fan of her as Keats was. We shall probably not know the real truth (several unopened letters from her were buried with Keats in Rome and the truth may indeed lie buried with him).
Roe does deep dives on the poetry with some great insight, but ultimately this version leans too much on the scholarly archive of data, place names, and proper names to grip me as Aileen Ward, Jackson Bate, Andrew Motion, and Gittings have done. While their versions dive into the emotion of the poet and the way that his biography intersected his work, Roe almost feels like he is settling many academic scores and giving his own highly qualified version. And qualified it is! An essential book for Keats fans and scholars, but I would point to the above authors for your first read of his life. This book is not for neophytes or unlikely to convert you to the drama and tragedy of Keats. Nonetheless, a valuable contribution to our understanding, my nitpicks about the prose aside.
We also see a likely brief but believably physical relationship with a young divorcee that Keats met at the Isle of Wight. It is certainly possible that the relationship could have been a physical one considering the timing and the nature of both people. But she is Rosaline to the Juliet of Fanny Brawne, and in Roe's construction, she doesn't dominate a large role. One gets the impression here that Roe is not as big of a fan of her as Keats was. We shall probably not know the real truth (several unopened letters from her were buried with Keats in Rome and the truth may indeed lie buried with him).
Roe does deep dives on the poetry with some great insight, but ultimately this version leans too much on the scholarly archive of data, place names, and proper names to grip me as Aileen Ward, Jackson Bate, Andrew Motion, and Gittings have done. While their versions dive into the emotion of the poet and the way that his biography intersected his work, Roe almost feels like he is settling many academic scores and giving his own highly qualified version. And qualified it is! An essential book for Keats fans and scholars, but I would point to the above authors for your first read of his life. This book is not for neophytes or unlikely to convert you to the drama and tragedy of Keats. Nonetheless, a valuable contribution to our understanding, my nitpicks about the prose aside.
August 14, 2024
This is an astoundingly detailed biography of one of the most notable English poets of the early 19th century.
Let's face it: any English Lit class you may have taken in school only renders the most cursory touch of the English poets. You will have read some Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn, On looking into Chapman's Homer, The Eve of Saint Agnes, Ode to a Nightingale and a few others. But you probably had no time to study this imaginative poet at any depth, right?
This extensive and even gripping book will give you the details you crave. Author Roe does an exemplary job of setting Keats in his timeframe, educational pursuits, larger societal struggles, family circumstances, driving ambition, love life, diseases and so much more.
The book is a heavy lift but you'll never read a more complete biography of any historic English poet than this. Well done, Nicholas Roe!
Let's face it: any English Lit class you may have taken in school only renders the most cursory touch of the English poets. You will have read some Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn, On looking into Chapman's Homer, The Eve of Saint Agnes, Ode to a Nightingale and a few others. But you probably had no time to study this imaginative poet at any depth, right?
This extensive and even gripping book will give you the details you crave. Author Roe does an exemplary job of setting Keats in his timeframe, educational pursuits, larger societal struggles, family circumstances, driving ambition, love life, diseases and so much more.
The book is a heavy lift but you'll never read a more complete biography of any historic English poet than this. Well done, Nicholas Roe!
December 6, 2022
What prevents this book from getting 5 stars (seeing as its extremely well-written) is its committing one of my pet peeves in a nonfiction narrative: consistently asking the explicit "what would he do next?" rather than letting the story speak for itself. But I do appreciate the perspective he brings to Keats' incredibly brief life, dismantling romantic myth but bringing out even more aspects of Keats' personality as a result.
May 5, 2020
This is thorough and well researched, best on suggesting links between the images that haunt Keats's poetry and what he has seen and experienced. And the pathos of his death is as moving as ever.
March 13, 2021
While it did feel long, I found it very interesting! Highly recommended.
February 17, 2022
Review coming soon!
October 30, 2025
beautiful book about one of the most beautiful writers in history
August 9, 2016
Despite unusual punctuation (Keats's as possessive) and almost hourly updates as meticulously researched, heavily from Keats' published letters, this is a new milestone biography of just 25 years of a poet's life. Did you know that John Keats' brother George was swindled out of his money by American artist John James Audubon? Interestingly, Keats seems to have lived on almost no income as houseguest of friends and through monetary loans, and through giving monetary loans. I read this book to see if the adage "He is with Shakespeare" was apt but also to reconcile that with his intended epitaph, "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." With Fanny Brawne this history gives lie to other vulgar moral soupcons and belongs with other recent landmark biographies I've read such as those of Shakespeare and of Brahms. I still love Keats' poetry since my earlier memorisations of his odes and sonnets, "Ode on Melancholy" an inspiration to my writing and to all those literate enough to enjoy this. The book perks up around his banner year 1819 and improves to the finish. It's unfortunate that at the epoque of Mme de Stael and of Benjamin Constant, English culture at the time was so untraveled and so uninformed compared to Paris and Weimar, for example. Few intellectual friends besides Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt enter the picture. His last trip to Naples and Rome was taken solely for declining health and death by tuberculosis. The Keats final residence is a famous museum now in Rome next to the Spanish Steps.
October 21, 2013
Inspired by the beatiful film, Bright Star, which focused on the doomed love between Fanny Brawne and the 18th century poet, John Keats, I read John Keats: the Complete Poems. Then, wanting context, I read Nicholas Roe's biography of the poet, titled: John Keats.
It seems to me that Roe gave more text to Keats' childhood, growth as a poet, and his travels than he did to his romance with Fanny Brawne. After the movie and from reading Keats' love poems inspired by her, I expected the woman to play a much more pivotal role in the story of his life. Perhaps, that's just the 'girl' in me; I do love a romance. Now, that I've finished the book, I'm really glad Roe covered the territory he did. I feel I have a full understanding of the environments that influenced the imagery in Keats' poems. If you're unfamiliar with Keats' work, just know that it is very atmospheric and descriptive. Nicholas Roe showed (year by year, location by location) the buildings, neighborhoods, countryside, art, architecture, and ancient ruins that found new life in Keats' fertile imagination. I'm also glad to have a better understanding of the contribution Keats' many friends had to his life and his poetry. Many of his friends were also poets or writers and political agitators. Keats knew how to drink and laugh with these guys, so I hope now they're all up in some afterlife environment having a blast.
I recommend this biography. I especially recommend it as a companion to a book of Keats poetry.
It seems to me that Roe gave more text to Keats' childhood, growth as a poet, and his travels than he did to his romance with Fanny Brawne. After the movie and from reading Keats' love poems inspired by her, I expected the woman to play a much more pivotal role in the story of his life. Perhaps, that's just the 'girl' in me; I do love a romance. Now, that I've finished the book, I'm really glad Roe covered the territory he did. I feel I have a full understanding of the environments that influenced the imagery in Keats' poems. If you're unfamiliar with Keats' work, just know that it is very atmospheric and descriptive. Nicholas Roe showed (year by year, location by location) the buildings, neighborhoods, countryside, art, architecture, and ancient ruins that found new life in Keats' fertile imagination. I'm also glad to have a better understanding of the contribution Keats' many friends had to his life and his poetry. Many of his friends were also poets or writers and political agitators. Keats knew how to drink and laugh with these guys, so I hope now they're all up in some afterlife environment having a blast.
I recommend this biography. I especially recommend it as a companion to a book of Keats poetry.
September 26, 2013
Reading this was like being plunged into John Keats' life in the early 1800s. The detail made this a vivid and enthralling read.
So fascinating to learn of his childhood, family upheaval ,his medical training, death of his brother from the same disease that killed him aged only 25,his literary circle financial troubles and his love life.
I loved being reacquainted with his poems and to learn how some sonnets were dashed off in competition with his friends.
His last journey to Italy and his death ,nursed by his friend Severn made for excruciating reading. But this book revives him in our memories.
So fascinating to learn of his childhood, family upheaval ,his medical training, death of his brother from the same disease that killed him aged only 25,his literary circle financial troubles and his love life.
I loved being reacquainted with his poems and to learn how some sonnets were dashed off in competition with his friends.
His last journey to Italy and his death ,nursed by his friend Severn made for excruciating reading. But this book revives him in our memories.
February 14, 2013
Writing a biography of someone who lived for only 25 years has its problems, no matter how exciting those years may have been. Roe fills a lot of the space of the book with long passages from Keats' poems and his own explications of them based on Keats' experiences. This can get irritating--I don't think it matters what early landscape inspired some word choice. Maybe that's just me. My other problem was that I guess I've just become more modernist-leaning and found much of Keats' poetry irritating with its mythological references, etc.
June 14, 2013
I loved this biography of John Keats. I love pretty much everything about him. It was a really fascinating look at him as a person, especially how his childhood experiences and medical studies shaped his career. It made me appreciate his poetry more. Also, reading about his depressing and painful death made me cry on the Metro, which is always a great, totally normal way to start a day.
April 24, 2013
Very readable and immersive. Loved Roe's efforts to gap fill Keats's early life and his constant eye out for possible sources of small inspiration for some of the description in the poems. Also, learned that Keats's dog (sister's dog) was called Wagtail. Not as mind-shifting as Motion's book but absolutely enjoyable.
December 25, 2012
A stunning, fresh biography, shedding new material over well trodden ground. Great!
January 29, 2013
If you love Keats, this book is a must.
November 16, 2013
A very well done biography on one of the greatest poets to ever set pen to paper.
February 19, 2015
By far the best John Keats biography there is!
April 23, 2015
Great life of Keats. I was especially moved by Roe's rendering of Keats's death.
May 15, 2016
I stopped reading this book by the fifth chapter. I could not take it. I lost the vision of Keats in the midst of so many facts and details.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews