The Man He Killed
By Thomas Hardy
“Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

“But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

“I shot him dead because —
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That’s clear enough; although

“He thought he’d ’list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I —
Was out of work — had sold his traps —
No other reason why.

“Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You’d treat if met where any bar is.
Or help to half-a-crown.”
- Meanings of words:
Had: if.
Inn: place to meet and drink.
Ancient: very old.
Niperkin: glass to drink.
Infantry: soldiers on foot.
Staring: looking or glazing.
Foe: enemy.
List: be a member.
Off-hand: not thinking a lot.
Traps: his things.
Out of work: jobless.
Treat: give a gift or handle something.
Quaint: strange.

- Paraphrase:
The poem consists of five stanzas and each stanza has four lines. In the first stanza, the speaker imagine that if he and his enemy met in an inn that they may sit and drink together. He says that they may become friends. These lines shows to us that he is not convinced of what he has done.
In the second stanza, the speaker tells us his story with his enemy. He says that they face each others in a battle field staring to each other. Then, they shot at each others. He shot at the man obviously first and killed him in his place. Of course the meet in the battle field as enemies.
In the third stanza, the speaker tries to justify what he has done which is killing the man by giving reasons, but he is not convinced. He repeats the word “because” trying to make an excuse for himself. The broken sentences show that he has conflict in the background of his mind.
In the fourth stanza, the speaker tries to understand the personality of the man he killed in the battle field. He is thinking about why he and the man joined the army. Then he finds an answer to is inquiries that both of them are poor and out of work so they need a job to have money. To join the army they sell their clothes and go to war. There is no other reason why they join the army. He says that he was a man
like me and may be suffering like me. He is upset that he killed the man.
In the last stanza, the speaker describes the war as an ugly, strange, aquatint, and inhuman activity. It neither makes people without rational nor reasons. If you meet the enemy in a bar you will help him with money or drink.