Two centuries ago, on December 28, 1817, painter Benjamin Robert Haydon hosted what he referred to in his diaries as the "immortal dinner." He wanted to introduce his young friend John Keats to William Wordsworth, and to celebrate completing his historical painting, Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, in which the faces of Keats, Wordsworth, and Charles Lamb (also a guest at the party) all appeared. After discussions of poetry and art and their relation to Enlightenment science, the party became a lively, raucous evening—one that would prove to be a highlight in each of their lives. Poet Stanley Plumly takes this dinner as a lens through which to understand the lives and works of these creative minds.