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Thomas HardyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Although Hardy experimented with complicated formal structures during his nearly two-decades-long work in poetry—typographical effects, irregular line lengths, variations in stanza lengths (reflecting his early passion for architecture), and the use of shifting point-of-view refrains—the formal structure of “The Man He Killed” reflects Hardy’s interest in capturing the psychology and personality of a common working-class infantry soldier.
Formal experiments typically call attention to the poet. Here, however, the form is direct and clear: five quatrains (four-line stanzas) with a regular rhyme scheme: ABAB. The form never calls attention to itself and thus creates the tone and feel of a foot soldier. Elaborate or subtle designs with intricate and subtle iterations would detract—it is as if the reader is sitting and listening to this soldier. The integrity of that simple form reflects Hardy’s desire to create sympathy with a common soldier struggling to understand exactly what combat has done to him.
By Thomas Hardy
Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave
Thomas Hardy
At an Inn
Thomas Hardy
Channel Firing
Thomas Hardy
Far From The Madding Crowd
Thomas Hardy
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy
Neutral Tones
Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
The Convergence of the Twain: Lines on the loss of the "Titanic"
Thomas Hardy
The Darkling Thrush
Thomas Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Thomas Hardy
The Return of the Native
Thomas Hardy
The Withered Arm and Other Stories
Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders
Thomas Hardy
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