Keith Douglas was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1920, his parents divorced in 1928 and\u00a0his father re-married in 1930. Douglas studied at Christ\u2019s Hospital and went up to Merton\u00a0College, Oxford in 1938. His tutor at Oxford was Edmund Blunden who had a high\u00a0opinion\u00a0of Douglas\u2019 poetry which he brought to the attention of T.S. Eliot.<\/p>\n
Within days of the declaration of war Douglas reported to an army recruiting centre but did\u00a0not begin training until July 1940. On 1 February 1941 he passed out from the Royal Military\u00a0College at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry at Ripon. He\u00a0was posted to the Middle East in July 1941.<\/p>\n
Douglas served initially in Cairo and Palestine and, finding himself 20 miles inland from the\u00a0Battle of El Alamein, disobeyed orders and reported to the front. He was posted to A\u00a0squadron and took part in the 8th army\u2019s victorious sweep through North Africa. He returned\u00a0to England in December 1943 and took part in the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. He was\u00a0killed by enemy mortar fire on 9 June whilst his regiment was advancing from Bayeux. He\u00a0was buried by a hedge close to where he had died and was later re-buried at Tilly-sur-Seulles\u00a0War Cemetery 14 km south of Bayeux.<\/p>\n
Simplify Me When I’m Dead on YouTube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=auObzLzilaw<\/a><\/p>\n Alamein to Zen Zem<\/em>, Keith Douglas’s war memoir<\/p>\n Keith Douglas: Poet to Poet<\/em>, edited by Ted Hughes (Faber & Faber, 2006)<\/p>\n Keith Douglas: the Complete Poems<\/em>, edited by Desmond Graham (Faber and Faber, 2000)<\/p>\n Unicorns, Almost<\/em>, by Owen Sheers – a one-man play based on the life and poetry of Keith Douglas (Faber & Faber 2011)<\/p>\n Keith Douglas: Battlefield Poet BBC Documentary https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F5yTX0eWW6s<\/a><\/p>\n Photograph of Keith Douglas, WW2 People\u2019s War [WW2 People\u2019s War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the\u00a0public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk\/ww2peopleswar]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Keith Douglas was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells in 1920, his parents divorced in 1928 and\u00a0his father re-married in 1930. Douglas studied at Christ\u2019s Hospital and went up to Merton\u00a0College, Oxford in 1938. His tutor at Oxford was Edmund Blunden who had a high\u00a0opinion\u00a0of Douglas\u2019 poetry which he brought to the attention of T.S. Eliot. Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1979,"parent":35,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"template-poet-bio.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\nResources for Keith Douglas<\/h3>\n