In "The Man He Killed," Thomas Hardy uses the possibility that two men could be friends or have some sort of relationship to show how war makes no sense. One of the men shoots the other all because they had enlisted on different sides in a war. That man realizes the possible similarities between them and comes to the author's conclusion about war.
             Imagery brings out the unjustified hatred each man showed towards each other during war, "And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me" (line 6-7).
             The idea that a man would buy a twenty-dollar drink for a man he does not know symbolizes how the man imagines the possibility of a friendship, "You'd treat if met where any bar is, Or help to a half-a-crown" (line 19-20).
             Personification is used as the man associates certain characteristics to war that show how war makes no sense, "Yes; quaint and curious war is" (line 17)!
             A sad tone is developed through the story as the author takes a look at the power that war has on humans. Sadly we can see how this man turns cold-hearted as he justifies his killing with the only reason that he can come up with, "I shot him dead because- Because he was my foe. Just so: my foe or course he was" (line 10-11). It is sad to see that war can take two men who are alike in many ways, even having the potential to be friends and turn them into cold-hearted killers eventually one killing the other. Once the man has killed the other man he sadly realizes that killing the other man was unnecessary and the author stresses this by discussing this regret in three of the five stanzas in the poem.
             Through repetition and rhyme the author shows what a war can do to the mind as the man tries to justify his killing. "I shot him down because- Because he was my foe. Just so: my foe of course he was." (line 10-11). To add to this, one can also see how rhythm is used when the man pauses after...