Kinds and Meanings of Figurative Language Found in Poem “The Man He Killed”

 

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." 

The poem “The Man He KIlled” consists of five stanzas and each stanza consists of four lines.

Kinds and Meanings of Figurative Language Found in Poem “The Man He Killed”

 
Stanza 1
'Had he and I but met (1)
By some old ancient inn,(2)
We should have sat us down to wet (3)
Right many a nipperkin! (4)

 a. Allusion
In line 3, “We should have sat us down to wet”, this sentence is using an expression of allusion which describes that the man and his enemy would have sat down for a drink and drunk many a glass.

Stanza 2
'But ranged as infantry,(1)
And staring face to face,(2)
I shot at him as he at me,(3)
And killed him in his place.(4)

b. Simile
In line 3, “I shot at him as he at me”, this sentence is using figure of speech of simile which describes the man’s action as well as his enemy. The poet tries to tell that these two soldiers were on equal footing. It was like a good old-fashioned duel. It also tells us that outcome duel was a total useless. The fact that the man was the one who's still standing was sheer, dumb luck.

Stanza 3
'I shot him dead because –(1)
Because he was my foe,(2)
Just so: my foe of course he was;(3)
That's clear enough; although (4) 

c. Irony
In line 3, “Just so: my foe of course he was”, this sentence is using figure of speech of irony which describes about his reasoning after killing his enemy. The poet tries to tell that the man is still trying to convince himself of why he shot his enemy in war. But all he's really doing here is saying the same thing over and over again these men were not knowing for whom they were fighting, what the war was about, or whose side they each were on.

 Stanza 4
'He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,(1)
Off-hand like just as I – (2)
Was out of work had sold his traps – (3)
No other reason why.(4)

 d. Metaphor
In line 2, “Off-hand like just as I, this sentence is using an expression of metaphor which describes the enemy’s motive to enlist in the military. The poet tries to describe that the man’s enemy was enlisting the military due to lack of money. Here, the man imagines a life for the man he killed, and it wasn't much different from his own.

Stanza 5
'Yes; quaint and curious war is!(1)
You shoot a fellow down(2)
You'd treat if met where any bar is,(3)
Or help to half-a-crown.'(4)

e. Hyperbole
In line 1, “Yes; quaint and curious war is!”, this sentence is using figure of speech of hyperbole which is describes about how the man’s view about the war he gotten into. The man doesn't quite have the vocabulary to talk about what really went down.