ABSTRACT
Keith Douglas was born on January 24, 1920. When he was eight years old his parents were separated and from then on he was brought up by his mother who sent him to Christ's Hospital where he began to write poetry of extraordinary accomplishment and sophistication for one so young. One of these poems, Dejection, was published in Geoffrey Grigson's New Verse when Douglas was only sixteen. He was an intelligent and highly literate boy with a gift for drawing and painting, but he was also physically tough and keen on rugger, swimming and riding.
