Lyric Poem · War & Remembrance

The Man He Killed

by Thomas Hardy · 1902

Reading room

1'Had he and I but met

2By some old ancient inn,

3We should have sat us down to wet

4Right many a nipperkin!

5'But ranged as infantry,

6And staring face to face,

7I shot at him as he at me,

8And killed him in his place.

9'I shot him dead because---

10Because he was my foe,

11Just so: my foe of course he was;

12That's clear enough; although

13'He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,

14Off-hand like---just as I---

15Was out of work---had sold his traps---

16No other reason why.

17'Yes; quaint and curious war is!

18You shoot a fellow down

19You'd treat if met where any bar is,

20Or help to half-a-crown.'

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“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).

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Lyric Poem Narrative Poem War & Remembrance Life

Keep reading

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron · 1814

She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies;And all that's best of dark and bright

18 lines · lyric

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

When You Are Old

W. B. Yeats · 1893

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

12 lines · lyric

More war poems →