Hardy, Thomas. "The Man he Killed".

Summary

- the speaker muses about the unexplainable irony in the nature of war

- contrasts two situations: the meeting with a stranger in a pub results in a friendly talk x the meeting with the same man in war results in shooting on both sides and the stranger's death

- staggers at the question how he came to kill his fellow human being, does not arrive at any satisfying answer except for "Just so", because he was his "foe"

- does not achieve any kind of solution and is left wondering how "quaint and curious war is!"

Analysis

- regularly rhymed

- caesuras and disruptive pauses suggest the inability to find the answer the speaker seeks