Lyric Poem · War & Remembrance
The Man He Killed
by Thomas Hardy · 1902
'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.'
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“The Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy — quilloak.com/poems/the-man-he-killed
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Man He Killed
- Poet
- Thomas Hardy
- Published
- 1902
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Narrative Poem
- Themes
- War & Remembrance, Life
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 20 lines · 5 quatrains
- Line length
- Mostly 6-syllable lines (trimeter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Thomas Hardy1840–1928
- Source record
- WikisourceThe Man He Killed by thomas-hardy, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1902
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 c52ff3213fe92214…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Keep reading
Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead
Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1847
16 lines · lyric
The Revenge - A Ballad of the Fleet
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
40 lines · lyric
Hymn To Aristogeiton And Harmodius
Edgar Allan Poe
16 lines · lyric