"The Man He Killed" - Thomas Hardy

Another wonderfully interpreted poem about war. Thomas Hardy brings war down to it's most simplest form.

"But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place." (Click?)

This poem, is written very simply, and is similar (simply, similar) to that of Doc Suess. And in reality, war is pretty simple, at least from an infantry point of view. A soldier does what he is told, and does not deal with any of the politics that surround those of a higher ranking. He doesn't even know why he is fighting, why he shoots at the person opposite, other than he was his foe. "Just so: my foe of course he was;/ That's clear enough; although" It puts war into standards any normal person can agree on. Perhaps if there wasn't a war happening, they would have been the best of chums, heading out to the pub for a "nipperkin". BUT, because of the war they are enemies, and will never know if they could have been friends. They only know that they are the enemy and that they have to shoot at each other. It's pretty bizarre when you sit down and think of it. How illogical war really is.

That is what I enjoy about this poem. It simplifies war down to the point where even a child could understand it, and even the child would be able to see the lack of sense war has. Why shoot a man when you can split a jug of beer with him. Why shoot a man when you can sit down with him and talk about what changes need to be made by both parties. I always think about Canada being a peacekeeper, and this scenario comes to mind.

*Two parties are about to charge into battle*
Canada walk in the centre and says:
" Woah, woah, woah guys. I'm a peacekeeper from Canada, eh. Tomorrow, we're all gonna sit down and have a pancake breakfast with some maple syrup and figure this shit out."
*Both parties erupt in cheers at thought of maple syrup and pancakes.*

And here I am talking about war and how senseless it all is, and I'm applying to the Reserves. That being said I would rather buy a man a drink then shoot him, any day. Or have some pancakes with them.