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Summary
Summary
In this dramatic monologue, the speaker is a soldier who has returned from the battlefield. He shot and killed an enemy soldier in battle. He regrets that it had to come to this and wonders if the two men would have been friends in another life. The speaker has been told that the man was his foe because he was fighting for the enemy forces, but the speaker wonders if the man enlisted just to have a job as he did. The speaker can imagine himself drinking with the man he has just slain, and he thinks about the nature of war which pits decent men against one another.
Through vivid imagery and a poignant tone, the poem highlights the tragedy of killing another human being and the universal experience of war and violence.
A Reading of The Man He Killed
A Reading of The Man He Killed
Context
Context
Thomas Hardy
Hardy was born in Dorset, England, in 1840.
Although he never fought in any wars himself, war weighed heavily on the minds of English society. The recent Napoleonic Wars (1803– 1815) captivated Hardy. He wrote his three-part epic, The Dynasts (1904-08), using the Napoleonic Wars as his inspiration. Hardy's other anti-war poems include A Wife in London (1899), Drummer Hodge (1899), and The Souls of the Slain (1901).
The Man He Killed was published in Harper's Weekly in 1902.
Hardy wrote the poem in response to the Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa. This was one of Hardy's several anti-war poems that expressed his negative opinion of war.
Hardy was suspicious that the British Empire only wanted control of South Africa in order to exploit the natural resources. He was also critical of the Empire's war tactics, such as its scorched earth policies and concentration camps.
The Boer War (1899-1902)
The Boer War began in 1899 between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics. Typical of a colonial war, the British Empire fought to exert its influence in South Africa and gain control of the natural resources. The Boers were decedents of early Dutch, German, and Huguenot immigrants. They were mostly farmers. The Boers were hostile towards both the indigenous African peoples and the British government of the Cape.
After discovering gold in the South African Republic, English citizens flocked to the area. That escalated tensions between the Boers and the British Empire. War officially began when Boer forces attacked British colonies. The Boers were largely outnumbered, but they were determined and fought back using guerrilla tactics.
The British eventually won the war using controversial tactics. They adopted a scorched earth policy and rounded up women and children, keeping them in horrific conditions in concentration camps. The war ended in 1902, with total casualties estimated at around 60,000 people.
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Guided Annotation
Annotations & Notes
Annotations & Notes
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