# Sidney Keyes > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sidney_Keyes > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sidney_Keyes.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Keyes > Source revision: 1353455904 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Short description|English poet}} {{Infobox writer | birth_name = Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|05|27|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1943|04|29|1922|05|27|df=yes}} | death_place = [Tunisia](/source/Tunisia) | death_cause = [Killed in action](/source/Killed_in_action) | occupation = [Poet](/source/Poet) | education = | alma_mater = [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford) | influences = | awards = [Hawthornden Prize](/source/Hawthornden_Prize) }} '''Sidney Arthur Kilworth Keyes''' (27 May 1922 – 29 April 1943) was an English [poet](/source/poet) of [World War II](/source/World_War_II). == Life == === Early years and education === Keyes was born on 27 May 1922 at the family home, only child of Reginald Keyes, of The Homestead, West Hill, [Dartford](/source/Dartford), Kent, a flour miller who had been a captain in the [Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment](/source/Queen's_Own_Royal_West_Kent_Regiment), and his second wife, Edith Mary, daughter of Rev. Arthur Blackburn, rector of St Paul's, Bradford.Kendall 2009, p. 398 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.{{Cite ODNB| url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-37633 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37633 | chapter=Keyes, Sidney Arthur Kilworth (1922–1943), poet | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | date=2004 | last1=De-La-Noy | first1=Michael | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }} Keyes started writing poetry when still very young, with [Wordsworth](/source/William_Wordsworth), [Rilke](/source/Rilke) and [Jung](/source/Jung) among his main influences. He attended [Dartford Grammar School](/source/Dartford_Grammar_School) and then boarded at [Tonbridge School](/source/Tonbridge_School) (Hillside, 1935–40), after which he won a history scholarship to [Queen's College, Oxford](/source/Queen's_College%2C_Oxford).Berryman 1947, p. 510 While at college, Keyes wrote the only two books of his lifetime, ''The Cruel Solstice'' and ''The Iron Laurel''.Dickey 2004, p. 256 During his time in Oxford, Keyes fell in love with the young German artist [Milein Cosman](/source/Milein_Cosman), but his love was not returned. He also befriended fellow poets [John Heath-Stubbs](/source/John_Heath-Stubbs) and [Michael Meyer](/source/Michael_Meyer_(translator)), edited ''The Cherwell'' magazine, and formed a dramatic society. ''The Iron Laurel'' was published during [World War II](/source/World_War_II) in 1942, when Keyes was 20 years old. His poetry was also published in the ''[New Statesman](/source/New_Statesman)'', ''[The Listener](/source/The_Listener_(magazine))'' and other poetry journals. === Military service === Keyes left Oxford and joined the [British Army](/source/British_Army) in April 1942,Hynes 1990, p. 298 entering active service that same year.Dickey 2004, p. 259 He was soon [commissioned](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) in the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment and served with his regiment's 1st Battalion, part of the [4th Division](/source/4th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)), to fight in the final stages of the [Tunisian campaign](/source/Tunisian_campaign) in March 1943.Kendall 2006, p. 185 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''. During combat, he was reported to have continued writing poetry. However, these works have not survived.Kendall 2009, p. 401 === Death === Keyes was killed in action on 29 April 1943, covering his platoon's retreat during a counter-attack, shortly before his 21st birthday. It has also been stated that he died at the hands of the enemy, following his capture.Michael L. Meyer, introduction to Keyes, ''Collected Poems'' Routledge (1945). == Recognition == In 1943, Keyes was awarded the [Hawthornden Prize](/source/Hawthornden_Prize) for ''The Cruel Solstice'' and ''The Iron Laurel''.{{cite web|last=Moseley|first=Merritt|title=The Hawthornden Prize|url=http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/hawthorn.html|publisher=University of North Carolina|accessdate=16 May 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409213015/http://facstaff.unca.edu/moseley/hawthorn.html|archivedate=9 April 2011}} He has been described as one of the outstanding poets of the Second World War.{{cite web|title=Sidney Keyes (1922-1943)|url=https://www.warpoets.org/poets/sidney-keyes-1922-1943/|website=The War Poets Association|accessdate=4 November 2016}} == Footnotes == {{reflist}} == Bibliography == * {{citation|last=Berryman|first=John|year=1947|title=Review: Young Poets Dead|journal=The Sewanee Review|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|volume=55|issue=3}} * {{citation|last=Hynes|first=Samuel|year=1990|title=Review: Sidney Keyes, Poet|journal=The Sewanee Review|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|volume=98|issue=2}} * {{citation|last=Dickey|first=James|title=Classes on Modern Poets and the Art of Poetry|date=March 2004|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=9781570035289|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQogr9JUVD0C&pg=PP1|editor=Donald Greiner}} * {{citation|last=Kendall|first=Tim|title=Modern English War Poetry|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-927676-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYNWjcm3NbwC&pg=PP1}} * {{citation|last=Kendall|first=Tim |author2=Geoffrey Hill|title=The Oxford Handbook of British and Irish War Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLpTxTq4KLQC&pg=PP1|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-955960-2 }} * {{citation|last=Cosman|first=Milein|title=Memories of Sidney Keyes|url=http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?showdoc=7;doctype=biography}} * Roy, Pinaki. “Sidney Keyes: ''The War-poet who ‘groped for Death’''”. ''[War, Literature and the Arts](/source/War%2C_Literature_and_the_Arts)'' ([U.S. Air Force Academy](/source/U.S._Air_Force_Academy)) (ISSN 2169-7914), 26 (1), 2014: http://wlajournal.com/wlaarchive/26/Roy.pdf ==External links== * {{FadedPage|id=Keyes, Sidney|name=Sidney Keyes|author=yes}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Sidney}} Category:1922 births Category:1943 deaths Category:Military personnel from Kent Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II Category:People educated at Tonbridge School Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:World War II poets Category:20th-century English male writers Category:20th-century English poets Category:Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sidney Keyes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Keyes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Keyes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.