The Collected Poems of Sidney Keyes

Hardback in Good condition. No Dust Jacket. Small Format. 124 Pages. Black cloth boards slightly soiled and rubbed. Gilt lettering to spine. Previous owner's name neatly written to inside front board. Frontispiece a portrait of Keyes aged 20 years. Uniform light browning throughout. Sydney Keyes was in the Army when he died after only six months service, firstly in Ireland and then for two weeks in Tunisia where he was captured and died in enemy hands. He was 21. But he must not be thought of as an adolescent prodigy, What he achieved is remarkable, not because of his youth, but for its intrinsic worth. In articulating the dumb courage of a generation, be breathed new life into many of the traditions of English poetry , the dramatic monologue, the landscape, the macabre and especially, blank verse.