Keyes, Sidney Arthur Kilworth (1922–1943)

English poet. His two published volumes of poetry, The Iron Laurel 1942 and The Cruel Solstice 1944, have a sibylline quality revealing a maturity remarkable in so young a man, a preoccupation with the themes of love and death, and a reliance on symbolism, at times obscure. His imagery is romantic, moving and often beautiful, and springs from a mind well-stocked both from literature and legend and from an original and exact observation of nature.

Keyes was born in Dartford, Kent, and educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He joined the army 1942 and, commissioned in the Royal West Kent Regiment, served in World War II. He died while a prisoner of war in Tunis.