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The Immortal Evening: A Legendary Dinner with Keats, Wordsworth, and Lamb

by Stanley Plumly
Norton. 2014. 368p. bibliog. ISBN 9780393080995. $26.95; ebk. ISBN 9780393245806. LIT
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Picture William Wordsworth in his mid-40s wearing a dressing gown, face covered with the accoutrements of a life mask while painter Benjamin Robert Haydon and editor John Scott secretly snigger at the poet who is oblivious to their reverential gaze. This is one of many intimate moments poetically layered into Plumly's (English, Univ. of Maryland; Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography) work. The author explores the themes of immortality and genius by weaving biographical information with the personal correspondence and the creative works of Haydon, Wordsworth, John Keats, and Charles Lamb surrounding their attendance of Haydon's December 28, 1817 dinner party to celebrate his progress on their portraits within the painting Christ's Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. Plumly's volume joins Penelope Hughes-Hallett's The Immortal Dinner: A Famous Evening of Genius and Laughter in Literary London, 1817.
VERDICT The title is highly recommended for students of poetry. Readers with an interest in art history will also find Plumly's interdisciplinary approach relevant to the study of 18th- and 19th-century English painters.
Reviewed by Nerissa Kuebrich, Chicago , Nov 01, 2014
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