Sidney Keyes

Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (May 27, 1922, Dartford, Kent — 19 April 1943, Tunisia) was an English poet of World War II.

Contents 1 Life and work 2 Contemporaries 3 Works 4 Notes 5 External links

Life and work

Keyes was born in Dartford. His father was an officer in the army, and as a child Keyes was raised by his grandfather. He attended Dartford Grammar School, Tonbridge School and studied at Oxford University where he and the poet John Heath-Stubbs became friends. The outbreak of war curtailed his university career. He joined the army in 1942 and fought in Tunis as a lieutenant in the West Kent Regiment. He was killed in action during a raid, one month before his 21st birthday.

In 1944 he was posthumously awarded the Hawthornden Prize.

Contemporaries

His contemporary, the poet Keith Douglas was also born in Kent, also left Oxford to serve in the war, and was also killed in action. Another contemporary was Philip Larkin who felt considerable animosity towards Keyes.^[1]

Works

• Eight Oxford Poets (1941) edited with Michael Meyer
• The Iron Laurel (1942)
• The Cruel Solstice (1943)
• Collected Poems (1945)

Notes

1. ^ see Tim Kendall's review of Keyes' Collected Poems

The poem 'War Poet' plus brief biographical footnote

University of Greenwich archive note

Short biography at Find A Grave