ABSTRACT
To the Poet, if to any man, it may justly be conceded to be estimated by what he has written rather than by what he has done, and to be judged by the productions of his genius rather than by the circumstances of his outward life. George Keats’s memoir was valuable partly because as brother of the poet, he was the closest relative and could provide information about the origins and upbringing of Keats, about which very little was known, as well as some of Keats’s most detailed and informal letters. The letters, written to Charles Brown, William Haslam and John Taylor, formed the final pages of Milnes’s biography, and even though they offer a less detailed account than Severn’s journal, they provide a memorable testimony to Keats’s tortured last days. Severn’s account was therefore crucial for Milnes, rounding off the representation of a young tragic poet, who had died agonisingly and almost as a martyr to his work.
