Darkling I Listen: Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia

Like a detective meticuously documenting his re-creation of John Keats' final year and tempestuous relationship with Fanny Brawne, Mr. Walsh brings the great poet alive at the time he is enduring his deepest pain. More fully understood now are the day-to-day events and private trials which plagued the poet's legendary Living Year. Walsh brings to life: Joseph Severn's departure to accompany the man who would most greatly impact his later life; everyday occurrences during the voyage and quarantine; vividly rendered images of John Keats' behavior, character and mannerisms; intimate details regarding life (and death) in Rome; and, "load(ed) with ore (as if) every rift," brilliantly precise historical details far too numerous to mention. My Masters Degree specialization was in John Keats and my first novel is dedicated to him. Mr. Walsh's masterpiece in literary biography is enlightening, tender, and--by focusing on John Keats' death--accomplishes much of the opposite: It brings him to life. I have loaned my copy to a fellow Keatsian in academe and cannot wait to read Mr. Walsh's book on Edgar A. Poe's mysterious end. Finally, just for the record, I teach both Keats and Poe at the university level. "Five stars!"

It is so amazing that in a career lasting only four years, John Keats established himself as English poet who best embodied the sense and ideas of Romantic poetry. That his short life was cut off at such a young age was a tragedy in the sense of all the unwritten works that could have flowed from his pen, but even so, he achieved his life ambition of being "one of the English poets".Darkling I Listen is an incredibly moving account of the last days of this most tragic (and most romantic) of poets. From his passionate letters to Fanny Brawne to his last moments under the care of his truest friend Joseph Severn, this story will wring your heart.

This book really is a little jewel -beautifully researched and written and incredibly moving. Keats is vividly portrayed, and , as the previous reviewer noted, Joseph Severn is given his due as the best person Keats could have had with him in his dying days. Severn was a devout Christian, according to Walsh, and his life after Keats' death exemplified the Christian belief that if you give selflessly, you will receive... Just have a box of tissues handy while reading this book...

Love may not kill, but it can certainly give you a smart shove down that road. Walsh's vivid, neatly researched book gives us a new look at the one whose name was writ on water and his curious agonies over the girl he would have married. Keats, impassioned, gifted, doomed, is even so not gilded here; from the surviving materials he is revealed as intense, a bit obsessive, and never more so than concerning Fanny Brawne. This is one of the most famed loves in history, freshly examined with the fairest look to date at Fanny's equally complicated character. Whether they take place in British rooms or Roman, the dramas within are drawn with lively and poignant detail. Special care is taken, too, to give Joseph Severn the full credit due for his constant vigil at Keats' long dying. To me, Severn's character was by far the most appealing, and Walsh's story left me certain that a steady, loving heart is genius of its own kind.