Distinguished poet Stanley Plumly (Orphan Hours) turned his attention to the great poet John Keats a few years ago with his perceptive biography Posthumous Keats. He does so again, in a different context, with the thoroughly entertaining and captivating The Immortal Evening. Joining Keats this time are William Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and a few others, at an evening dinner (and supper) in northern London hosted by the once-well-known historical painter Benjamin Haydon. The gathering is to celebrate and honor the guests, who are prominently featured in Haydon's still unfinished, massive (13' x 15') painting Christ's Entry into Jerusalem.
Plumly sets the table for the immortal evening by detailing how far each guest had to walk to get there. Keats had the most ground to cover: three miles. The dinner party occurred on December 28, 1817, so each was bundled up, lanterns in hand. Much drinking occurred, and napping. But Plumly tricks us; this book is much more than a convivial recounting of good food and talk. It provides him the opportunity to range far and wide, discussing these men's careers--how they intertwined with one another--with Haydon's as the underlying narrative. Plumly also examines the times in which they lived, how they lived and their contemporaries: Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Hazlitt, Walter Scott, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Leigh Hunt.
Plumly's wise telling and silky prose are as comfortable and warm as these figures were at their dinner. If not immortal, Plumly's tour of this historic evening and age is more than memorable. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher