Hello :)
Today I want to show you a great poem. It is about war and the ‘curiosity’ why people keep killing each other just because someone else said that they have to.
The Man He Killed
BY THOMAS HARDY
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| Thomas Hardy |
"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."
This poem was written in 1902 by the English poet Thomas Hardy. In this poem Hardy talks about the stupidity of war. This poem is written in the view of a soldier who has killed an enemy on the battlefield. However, the soldier asks himself if there were other reasons for killing the man, than the fact that the foreign man was ‘only’ an enemy. And because of this line: I shot him dead because —Because he was my foe,Just so: my foe of course he was; That's clear enough; although - you can see that there are no other reasons for killing each other in the war. On the contrary, the soldier of the poem says, that if there was no war and that they may have met each other somewhere else, that they even could have helped each other. Not only I think that this poem is worth reading it, but also I think it is very important to understand it. Even though this poem was written more than hundred years from now,it sadly still suits the current situation on earth.
However, war is a stupid thing. And as Hardy wrote in his poem, it is also curious. Because why on earth keep people killing each other? Because they have their orders? Is it possible to FIGHT FOR PEACE? I do not think so, it does not even make any sense to me.
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