Sidney Keyes (1922–1943)

Sidney Keyes was born in Dartford, England, and began writing poetry at a young age. His mother died shortly after his birth, and his father had tuberculosis and was largely absent during his childhood. He was raised by aunts and his paternal grandfather. He attended Dartford Grammar School and then boarded at Tonbridge School from 1935 to 1940, after which he won a scholarship to study history at Oxford University. There Keyes became friends with John Heath Stubbs and Michael Meyer. He edited The Cherwell magazine and set up a drama society, putting on plays in which he honed the dramatic voice that would become a key feature of his poetry. During this time, he wrote the only two books published in his lifetime, the poetry collections The Cruel Solstice and The Iron Laurel (1942). His poetry was also published in the New Statesman, The Listener, and other poetry journals. At Oxford, Keyes fell in love with a young German-born artist, Emilie "Milein" Cosman, to whom he dedicated some of his poems, but his love was not returned. Keyes joined the British Army in April 1942, during World War II. He was 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 North Africa in March 1943. Keyes was killed in action on April 29, 1943, covering his platoon's retreat during a counter-attack, shortly before his 21st birthday. The poems he was writing at the time were lost on the battlefield, but his letters and notebook survived. The Collected Poems of Sidney Keyes, edited by Michael Meyer, was published posthumously in 1946. Another volume, Minos of Crete: Plays & Stories, containing letters and the poet's notebook, was published in 1948.