There is no doubt that war brings about many hideous factors into society. It is the greatest catastrophe that can befall human beings. The effects of war are both physical and psychological; human societies are deeply affected by wars and the very basis of human existence is destroyed. In the poem, “The Man He Killed” Thomas Hardy makes use of irony, tone, and imagery to illustrate that in war, soldiers are given no choice when obliged to carry out orders and push away their own thoughts and morals for the sake of their own country despite how futile it may be.
The poem “The Man He Killed” shows of the senselessness of war and how futile violence is. Violence is a social phenomenon; it is the use of force to harm a human being, its outcome is injury--physical or psychological, fatal or nonfatal.
In the last stanza Hardy says “yes quant and curious war is!” he doesn’t fully understand war. This line shows his bitterness about the situation. It is ironic because usually wars are very frightening, but he described it as soft and gentle.
These men have absolutely nothing against one another, yet one kills the other during a battle; this shows how irony plays a significant role in the poem because it demonstrates how these two men have no personal reason to go against each other, yet are out to kill one another because of the circumstance of war.
Hardy illustrates a friendship that could have existed between the pair, had the turn of events been rearranged differently. The possibility of companionship between opposing sides shows that war is not a conflict between individual men, but instead is conjured up by unnecessary disputes. The main idea of the poem is the cruelty and absurdity of war, because of stupid reasons usual men begin to call each other foes and treat them like enemies. The author wants to tell us that war is nonsense.