Sidney Keyes
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short description Template:Infobox writer Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes (27 May 1922 – 29 April 1943) was an English poet of World War II.
LifeEdit
Early years and educationEdit
Keyes was born on 27 May 1922 at the family home, only child of Reginald Keyes, of The Homestead, West Hill, Dartford, Kent, a flour miller who had been a captain in the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, and his second wife, Edith Mary, daughter of Rev. Arthur Blackburn, rector of St Paul's, Bradford.<ref>Kendall 2009, p. 398</ref> His mother died of peritonitis when he was six weeks old, and he was raised by his paternal grandparents. His grandfather, Sidney Kilworth Keyes, was a wealthy farmer and dominant figure in the family.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref><ref name="warpoetassoc"/> Keyes started writing poetry when still very young, with Wordsworth, Rilke and Jung among his main influences.<ref name="warpoetassoc"/> He attended Dartford Grammar School and then boarded at Tonbridge School (Hillside, 1935-1940), after which he won a history scholarship to Queen's College, Oxford.<ref name="warpoetassoc"/><ref>Berryman 1947, p. 510</ref> While at college, Keyes wrote the only two books of his lifetime, The Cruel Solstice and The Iron Laurel.<ref>Dickey 2004, p. 256</ref> During his time in Oxford, Keyes fell in love with the young German artist Milein Cosman, but his love was not returned. He also befriended fellow poets John Heath-Stubbs and Michael Meyer, edited The Cherwell magazine, and formed a dramatic society.<ref name="warpoetassoc"/>
The Iron Laurel was published during World War II in 1942, when Keyes was 20 years old. His poetry was also published in the New Statesman, The Listener and other poetry journals.<ref name="warpoetassoc"/>
Military serviceEdit
Keyes left Oxford and joined the British Army in April 1942,<ref name="Hynes 1990, p. 298">Hynes 1990, p. 298</ref> entering active service that same year.<ref>Dickey 2004, p. 259</ref> He was soon commissioned in the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment and served with his regiment's 1st Battalion, part of the 4th Division, to fight in the final stages of the Tunisian campaign in March 1943.<ref name="warpoetassoc"/><ref name="Kendall185">Kendall 2006, p. 185</ref> Prior to his service, Keyes had already written more than half of the 110 poems that would later be gathered in The Collected Poems of Sidney Keyes.<ref name="Hynes 1990, p. 298"/> During combat, he was reported to have continued writing poetry. However, these works have not survived.<ref>Kendall 2009, p. 401</ref>
DeathEdit
Keyes was killed in action on 29 April 1943, covering his platoon's retreat during a counter-attack,<ref name="warpoetassoc"/> shortly before his 21st birthday.<ref name="Kendall185"/> It has also been stated that he died at the hands of the enemy, following his capture.<ref>Michael L. Meyer, introduction to Keyes, Collected Poems Routledge (1945).</ref>
RecognitionEdit
In 1943, Keyes was awarded the Hawthornden Prize for The Cruel Solstice and The Iron Laurel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He has been described as one of the outstanding poets of the Second World War.<ref name="warpoetassoc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FootnotesEdit
BibliographyEdit
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- Roy, Pinaki. “Sidney Keyes: The War-poet who ‘groped for Death’”. War, Literature and the Arts (U.S. Air Force Academy) (ISSN 2169-7914), 26 (1), 2014: http://wlajournal.com/wlaarchive/26/Roy.pdf