In the poem, "The Man He Killed," that was written by Thomas Hardy, timeless appeal is quite evident in the fact that the circumstances in which these two men met could have been different. They became instant and unwilling foes because they met in a war scenario. The poem suggests that the speaker and his opponent become foes only because of circumstances in which they met.
             When you meet someone the circumstances that you meet them in tend to reflect how you will view this person for future meetings. In this poem there are references to different ways that the speaker could have met his enemy. In the first stanza the speaker says, "Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin,"(1-4). Here the speaker is saying that if these two men could have met at a pub they could have had a beer together as opposed to having become instant foes like they do in a war setting. In which your intent is not to befriend them but instead to kill them because they are your enemy.
             The poem suggests that when you are at war with another you really do not have a choice about whether or not you want to kill another person. It is implied that the speaker will kill another person because the speaker has to not because the speaker wants to accomplish that task. In stanza two the speaker says, "But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place."(5-8). In this stanza, the poem is saying that the speaker is at war. This means that they are both shooting because they have the intent to kill their enemy. The speaker and the other person are unwilling foes and because they are at war with each other. They can see each other's face which makes it harder to kill them but it has to be done so they do it without a fight. Because if they fought about killing the enemy it would be counter-productive opposed to being produ...