From Publishers Weekly:

The last year of Keats's life, 1820, was a time of great triumph and, as Walsh writes in this gripping but irritatingly melodramatic book, one of great pain. The year before, he had written such extraordinary works of literature as "On a Grecian Urn," "To a Nightingale," "On Melancholy" and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," and when those poems appeared, in July 1820, they were immediately hailed by the British press. But by that time, Keats was already coughing up blood, having contracted, in February of that year, the tuberculosis that was to kill him. In September, accompanied by Joseph Severn, a loyal friend and a painter who in joining the poet damaged his chances of winning a prestigious fellowship, Keats sailed to Rome, where he installed himself in a room overlooking the famous Spanish Steps, hoping to get well, soon preparing to die. Walsh, whose previous books include Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, draws back the curtain on the 100 days that followed, a long sad scene that has only been glimpsed in other biographies. He is adept at explaining Keats's passions and the deep-rooted morbidity that may have played a role in his much debated relationship with Fanny Brawne, Keats's young lover. Walsh's prose can be grandiloquently banal, but he does evoke the scene, and the reader will be relieved to learn that the pseudo-poetic narration is accomplished without poetic license, as even such phrases as "the morning sun glinting off the houses" comes directly from the description of a witness. Walsh is evenhanded and convincing in his account of Keats's last days, a chapter of literary history that certainly belongs on shelves alongside the classic tragedies. (Oct.)

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Walsh (Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe) believes that the last days and death of John Keats have never been thoroughly documented or interpreted. Here he reexamines Keats's relationship with his great love, Fanny Brawne; his connection with religion; and the diagnosis and treatment of his illness. When Keats became ill, his doctor sent him to Rome with a companion, John Severn, to recover from what may or may not have been consumption. It was, at the time, theorized that Keats was made sick by his consuming need to write poetry and his jealous and possessive love of that seemingly shallow and outrageous flirt, Fanny. Drawing on the 39 letters from Keats to Fanny (along with a few written by Severn and friends), Walsh argues that Keats's love for Fanny did inspire his poetry, which in turn led to his everlasting literary fameAbut that Keats probably died of consumption just the same. Of particular interest, as well, is Walsh's profile of Severn, who stood by and served Keats throughout his incapacitating confinement. Of benefit to anyone who wants to know more about John Keats, this book is recommended for public and academic libraries.ARobert Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., IN

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

John Evangelist Walsh is the author of more than a dozen books of history and biography, including Midnight Dreary: The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe and Unraveling Piltdown: The Science Fraud of the Century and Its Solution. He lives in Monroe, Wisconsin.