Henry Reed’s Naming of Parts

Henry Reed’s “Naming of Parts”

Casey Samulski

Advertisement: “Naming of Parts” is a poem, written by Henry Reed, which illustrates his anti-war sentiments through a series of drill sergeant instructions. It was written during the World War II era, and is considered to be a defining piece literature about the war, showing the true progression of society through the comparison of people to nature.

Artifact’s online text can be found at: http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~mquieto/papers/reed.html

“Naming of Parts” is a poem by Henry Reed, an anti-war poet who questions the progress of society in the World War II era. Reed was born in Birmingham, England, in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. When drafted into the army, he wrote to his sister about what he thought of the army training, which would later become the subject of his poem, “Naming of Parts.”(Stallworthy Introduction to Collected Poems)

“Naming of Parts” begins with the narration of a sergeant to his troops about each part of a rifle. The sheer tedium of his speech about each piece of the gun conveys the terribly slow life of a soldier. Closer inspection reveals more about Reed’s perspective on the army. The sergeant is contrasted with the neighboring garden. Reed contrasts the two ideas by making the sergeant’s speech akward while the description of the garden is lyrical:

“This is the lower sling swivel…. And this is the piling swivel, / Which in your case you have not got. The branches / Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures, / Which in our case we have not got.”

Sergeant goes on about his swivels while the branches make their simple gestures. The lines about nature don’t have consistent rhythm but stand out because of the clear absence of literary devices. Reed is clearly a romantic, believing in the beauty, superiority, and greatness of nature as compared to people and the progress of society.

Reed only served in the army for a few months, and the poem is recounting a tale from boot camp rather than from the front like other poets of the time. Despite this unusual perspective, Reed’s poem became one of the most widely recognized anti-war statements after and during WWII. There was something almost accidental in the way the poem was written and the wide amount of recognition it received. (Scannell Not Without Glory: Poets of the Second World War) Reed showed how insignificant the war was and the people who fought in it by writing each stanza with repetition and slow syllables. The poem seems to slow down, making itself simple. The poem clearly states the point: war shows that despite all of the positive uses for modern technology, people choose to use it for weapons, and take steps backwards in progress. Reed was able to make his point so clear “by giving a comic imitation of a sergeant-instructor .… He came to notice that the utterances of the N.C.O., couched in the style of the military manual, fell into certain rhythmic patterns which fascinated him….” ( Scannell Not Without Glory: Poets of the Second World War)

The last line of the first Stanza “and today we have naming of Parts….” is almost identical to the last line of the last stanza, prompting the reader to believe that there is no real progress for the sergeant, and that he is like a record, stuck on repeat. Therefore, from this one can assume that while each line of nature has changed, people have stayed the same. Even while people think they have progressed beyond nature, they haven’t.

Bibliography

Stallworthy [C1] , Jon, ed. Introduction. “Collected Poems,” Henry Reed. Oxford University Press, 1991. An introduction to the collection of poems of Henry Reed. It includes a biography and some other information about the formation and success of the Naming of Parts trilogy.

2.Scannell, Vernon. Not Without Glory: Poets of the Second World War. Woburn Press: London, 1976. Date Accessed: 4/15/2001. http://henryreed.homestead.com/notwithoutglory.html. A well made and authored website containing information about Naming of Parts, and the reasons that made it such a well recognized poem.

Quieto, Michael. Imagery of Genisis in “Naming of Parts.” November 1997. Date Accessed: 4/15/2001. http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~mquieto/papers/naming.html An interesting website that takes a look at many of the nature passages, and draws parallels between the bible and the poem.

Artifact’s online text can be found at: http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~mquieto/papers/reed.html