Evening star., 1948-12-19
Anew View of John Keats and His Intimotes
Letters and Papers
Yield Fascinating
Source Material
For Biogrophers
THE KEATS CIRCLE
Edited by Hyder Edward Rollins
(HarUard University Press. TtDo
Volumes; $12.50J
Reviewed by
MARY McGRORY.

John Keats genius for friend
ship has made him one of the
most appealing figures in all Of
English literature. The early
morning freshness of his poetry
was apparently part of a per-
sonality which aroused the most
intense response in those who knew
him. His brothers worshiped him,
and he became the center of circle
of friends who We'd with each other
in encouraging the poet and min
istering to the man. No eSthete,
although his gospel was beauty, he
grew from ready listed schoolboy
champion of the underdog into a
handsome young man of exceptional
sweetness, charm and manliness.
The testimony of the letters, which
are either to or about Keats is
unanimous in praise Of character
which held no meanness. To be sure,
most of his circle realized that
their Immortality was closely bound
to his. Joseph Severn, the painter
who watched with Keats in his
last agony, said as much. But
they deserve their fame for their
stubborn recognition of his genius
at time when he was being f1ayed
by the Tory critics of Blackwood's
and the Edinburgh Review. AL
though he professed that he could
not live" without their love, he was
actually not in so much need of
their reinsurance as might be sup
posed. The tragedy of his early
death and his hopeless love for
Fanny Brawne has tended to OBJ
scure the good years that Keats
knew. when he was secure despite
his detractors, in the knowledge Of
his poetic destiny, wrote with ease
and discovered the world with kind
Of radiant enthusiasm.
A Devoted Group.
The papers collected in THE
Keats Circle" include letters to him
by his brother George and other
members of devoted group which
numbered his publisher. John
Taylor: John Hamilton Reynolds.
Leigh Hunt, Richard Woodhouse
and Benjamin Hayden, and also
the heartbreaking account, which
were sent back by Severn during
Keats final illness and passed
around the circle. Some of the
material is trif1ing or downright
dull, although possibly of interest
to scholars. Several of the letters
have no bearing on Keats, but
relate only to the later lives of
friends Of his youth, which informa-
ton is supplemented by biographical
material prefacing volume l.
The heart of the matter for Keats
lovers will be found in the second
volume which consists mostly of
letters received by Richard Monck-
ton Mines, one of Keats earliest
biographers, in response to his re-
quests for flrst-hand accounts Of
the poet. The raw material of
biography is fascinating often as
much for the personality of the
correspondents which it reveals as
for the "reminiscences of Keats. Sew
eral interesting characters make
their appearances: Henry Stephens,
q schoolmate who admired his
schoolmate although his poetry
was not generally to my taste; Ben
jamin Bailey, an indestructible old
colonial clergyman, mistakenly killed
of by Monckton-Milnes in an early
edition, and G. F. Mathew, pious
and hard-pressed father of 13, who
intersperses an analysis of his own
temperament, samples of his own
poetry and plea for the biog-
rarher's Intervention to regain a
political appointment.
Testament of Friendship.
While its chief value may be as
a source book, THE Keats Circle"
is an affecting testament of friend
ship to a deservedly beloved genius.
Even Fanny Brawne, who figures
surprisingly little in the letters ex-
cept for John Hamilton Reynolds
sighting reference to "the poor idle
thing of womankind to whom he
(Keats) has so unaccountably at
tached himself" was moved to re-
mark the day the poet sailed for
Italy: II am certain he has some
spell that attaches them to him, or
else he has fortunately met with a
set of friends that ! did not believe
could be found in the world"
II