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Subject: English, Topic: The Man He Killed, Grade: VIII, , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 1 of 14

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1. What do you think is happening in the above scene?, 2. Which words would you use to describe the scene?, 3. How are the common people (farmers, labourers, and so on), affected?, CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 2 of 14

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a. What do you think is happening in the above scene?, A war, battle, conflict, and so on., b. Which words would you use to describe the scene?, War, peace, soldiers, guns, cannons, arms, bullets, hurt, shot, killed,, maimed, fire, shelling, bombing, bleeding, ceasefire, dead, destruction,, pollution, fear, emergency, flag, truce, and so on., c. How are the common people- farmers, workers, families, etc. affected?, positive or negative, Victory, capture land, defeat the enemy, national pride, and so on., Lose crops, water contamination, shortage due to crops destroyed,, fields used for fighting, common people made to fight, no work, living, with fear of death and attack, markets not open, shortage of food,, water, clothing, violence, people loose family members, bread-winners, of the family, fathers, brothers sent to war, children orphaned, women, widowed, made destitute and beggars, destruction of buildings, roads,, schools, public utilities, and so on., , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 3 of 14

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Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset County,, England, where he studied architecture,, but he later quit to pursue a literary career., In order to gain financial stability, Hardy, first published novels, including classics, such as Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude, the Obscure. Once he was well known and, well off financially, he returned to poetry,, his first love. Hardy’s dark, bleak verse was, at odds with his Victorian contemporaries, who tended to present more optimistic, perspectives on life., , Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), English Novelist and Poet, CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 4 of 14

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Prelude to the Poem, ‘The Man He Killed’, , • The Second Boer War was fought from 1899-1902 between the British, Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking settlers of two independent Boer, republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange, Free State., • It ended with a British victory, and the annexation of the, republics by the British, Empire., • Many factors contributed to, the war, but the most, compelling cause was the, struggle over control of the, rich gold reserves at the, Witwatersrand., , CB/VIII/2122, , Dutch speaking, Boers, , British Colony, , The Man He Killed, , 5 of 14

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Summary of Stanza 1, ‚Had he and I but met, By some old ancient inn,, We should have sat us down to wet, Right many a nipperkin!, , The speaker begins by talking about an unnamed man. By the title of the, poem The Man He Killed, the readers can assume that he is talking about, the man whom he has killed. The readers can easily picturise two men, meeting up by chance and sitting down for a drink together., The speaker is saying that if he had met that unnamed man under normal, circumstances, rather than on the battlefield, at places such as an inn or bar,, they probably would have shared drinks many times and would have had an, impressive old time. Nipperkin in the last line refers to a liquor vessel or, container having a capacity of a half pint or less., , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 6 of 14

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Summary of Stanza 2, ‚But ranged as infantry,, And staring face to face,, I shot at him as he at me,, And killed him in his place., In the stanza, we finally become aware of that unnamed man. He was a, soldier and both the speaker and this unnamed soldier were on the, opposing sides of a war. The word ‘But’ in the first line brings the reader, back into the reality where the speaker locates himself and the other, soldier on the battlefield., The words ‘ranged and ‘infantry’ clearly tell us that both these men have, the lowest ranking in the army and are lined up in ranks by their, superiors for the battle in a way that they could look right at each other., The speaker describes how both of them shot at each other at the same, time but it was the soldier from the opposing side who succumbs to the, bullet which means the speaker shot his opponent down., CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 7 of 14

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Summary of Stanza 3, ‚I shot him dead because —, Because he was my foe,, Just so: my foe of course he was;, That’s clear enough; although, In this stanza of the poem ‘The Man He Killed’, the speaker says that he, killed the other man because he was his enemy but the break in the first, line indicates the speaker’s hesitation and doubt about his action. The, repeated use of ‘because’ indicates that the speaker is trying to come up, with a reason or an explanation for why he killed the other man., It appears that the speaker is not really comfortable with what he has, done and so is trying to convince himself that he has done the right, action by shooting the man as he was his foe. The word ‘although’, indicates that the speaker wants to consider all possibilities rather than, settling for his unconvincing justification., , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 8 of 14

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Summary of Stanza 4, ‚He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps,, Off-hand like — just as I —, Was out of work — had sold his traps —, No other reason why., In this stanza, the poet says that he had enrolled himself in the army just, like that without too much thinking. Similarly, he feels that the soldier he, shot could have joined the enemy army maybe because he was out of, work, maybe he was in real need of money or just like that., This stanza shows that killing, injuring or fighting was not there in the, minds of both these men and the speaker didn’t go for a war with a, desire to kill the man., However, he has now killed the man and is not able to explain this to, himself why he has done it., , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 9 of 14

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Summary of Stanza 5, ‚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.‛, In this stanza, the speaker talks about the pointlessness of the war and its, effect on the people who fight. The speaker calls war quaint and curious, because it changes you as a person., The same fellow whom you would have otherwise befriended, offered a, drink or loaned money to, becomes your enemy on the battlefield., , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 10 of 14

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Hardy’s Point of View, The Man He Killed deals with the, , futility, or pointlessness, of war. It, is told from the point of view of an, ordinary working-class soldier,, who is reflecting on the idea that, the man he killed in battle, probably had a lot in common, with him. The idea of having a, drink together suggests a sense of, brotherhood between the ordinary, soldiers. The lack of conviction in, the narrator’s voice about the, necessity of killing the enemy man, emphasizes the idea that the, soldiers who fight just follow, orders, rather than knowing what, it is they are doing., CB/VIII/2122, , It is generally thought that the, speaker is a soldier who has, just returned from the Boer, War, and that he is talking in, the pub with his friends. The, poem was originally published, with a line setting the scene in, a particular inn in Dorset., , The Man He Killed, , 11 of 14

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Hardy’s Point of View, •, , By focusing on one soldier's story, Hardy forces us to confront the fact, that, in war, one man has to look another man in the face and kill that, man. That's what's at stake here, and for Hardy that's what really matters., , •, , That may sound obvious, but it's an easy fact to forget in this day and age,, when we don't always have to look each other in the face., Wars are often fought in far off places, and with new technology like, drones, satellites, etc., it's often hard to remember that war always has and, always will have a human cost. Men and women die at the hands of other, men and women. Somewhere, someone made a choice that made that, happen., , •, , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 12 of 14

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Figurative speech: Tautology, • Tautology is a repetitive use of phrases or words which, have similar meanings. In simple words, it is expressing the, same thing, an idea or saying two or more times., • The word tautology is derived from the Greek word ‚tauto‛, (the same) and ‚logos‛ (a word or an idea)., • It lays emphasize or stress- it brings out the importance of, an idea or theme., • Examples from the poem-, , Some old ancient inn, , Yes; quaint and curious war is!, , We… us.., , Quaint, curious: strange, , … ranged … infantry, CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 13 of 14

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Figurative speech: Inversion, • Changing the order of words for rhyming or other, dramatic, or poetic effects., • Interrogative sentences and exclamatory sentences are, often inverted with the verb placed before the subject., • Examples of inversion in the poem:, Had he and I but met, , My foe of course he was, , …..sat us down…., , ….. If met where any bar is, , CB/VIII/2122, , The Man He Killed, , 14 of 14