The Full Text of “Naming of Parts”
The Full Text of “Naming of Parts”
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“Naming of Parts” Introduction
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"Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed is the first in a six-poem sequence entitled Lessons of the War. In the poem, a military official addresses a group of soldiers and catalogs the different parts of the Enfield rifle, the bolt-action rifle the British military used during World War II. The language used during this lesson is strictly technical, but each stanza concludes with an observation of the surrounding world's beauty—observations that some readers attribute to a second speaker, perhaps a daydreaming soldier. Either way, this seemingly out-of-place appreciation of beauty offers a striking contrast to the cold, unemotional world of wartime military service.
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“Naming of Parts” Summary
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The speaker announces to a group of soldiers that they will be reviewing the parts of a rifle, reminding them that the previous day's lesson was about how to clean the rifles and that tomorrow morning's lesson will be about what to do after actually shooting them. All of this information aside, the speaker reiterates that today the group will go through and name the various parts of the rifle. The poem then shifts suddenly to focus on the way a certain kind of camellia flower is speckled throughout the nearby gardens— an observation that doesn't change the fact that today the group of soldiers will be learning the names of different rifle parts.
The speaker identifies the rifle's lower mounting piece—where a strap will be connected—and then the upper mounting piece, which the soldiers will use once they receive straps for their rifles. The speaker also points out another bracket that makes it possible to stack multiple guns on top of each other, but then notes that the soldiers in the group don't actually have this part on their rifles. After this explanation, the poem once more brings in naturalistic imagery, this time of the nearby gardens' tree branches, which move quietly and gracefully. Unlike these branches, the soldiers lack such grace.
Returning to the rifle lesson, the speaker locates the safety, saying that the soldiers should be able to turn it off with their thumbs. Pausing here, the speaker warns the soldiers against using any of their other fingers to release the safety, insisting that anybody with even the smallest amount of strength should be able to use their thumbs. The poem then centers again upon nature, observing delicate flowers that are perfectly still in the gardens. Even these dainty flowers are strong enough to release the safety of a rifle with their thumbs.
Next, the speaker identifies the rifle's bolt, explaining that the bolt opens the breech, which is the part of the gun into which the soldiers will load ammunition. The soldiers can move the bolt back and forth in the breech, a practice called "easing the spring." Similarly, the bees in the gardens move back and forth very quickly as they buzz around the flowers—a process they call "easing the Spring."
The speaker repeats that the bees call their movement around the flowers "easing the Spring," then repeats that something—it's no longer clear what, exactly—should be easy for anyone with even the smallest amount of strength in their thumbs. This is the case when it comes to moving the bolt in the breech, as well as for operating the mechanism that cocks and readies the rifle for shooting. Soldiers with strength in their thumbs should also find it easy to find the rifle's balance point, which is the spot where the gun will rest level in the shooter's hand. However, the speaker says that the group of soldiers lacks this balance point. The attention of the poem then shifts to newly-blossomed almond trees, which stand quietly in the nearby gardens as bees fly through their flowering branches. And all the while, the soldiers learn about their rifles and what each part is called.
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“Naming of Parts” Themes
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Nature's Indifference to Human Struggle
“Naming of Parts” showcases the ways in which the natural world is largely uninfluenced by the harsh realities of human existence. While the poem’s primary speaker delivers a lesson about the various parts of a rifle, the nearby gardens teem with beauty and the freshness of spring. This juxtaposition of rote wartime procedures and the unbothered beauty of the surrounding world suggests human insignificance in the face of nature. Although a lesson about the parts of a rifle might seem important in the context of human warfare, the reality is that such concerns are trivial in the grand scheme of the world at large, which will continue to progress from season to season regardless of human activity.
Guns in the military serve an explicitly violent purpose, since they are used not for hunting or sport, but to kill an enemy. Although the speaker never explicitly talks about the violent implications of using a rifle during wartime, the fact remains that the soldiers are expected to use their weapons to kill other human beings. As they struggle with this grim reality, though, nature goes along like normal in the nearby gardens, infusing the overall scene with a kind of beauty that feels out of step with the sorrows of war.
Each stanza’s concluding lines focus on nature, emphasizing the extent to which the outside world contrasts with the unglamorous, foreboding atmosphere of the military during wartime. Some readers interpret these lines as a point-of-view shift from the perspective of the military lecturer to the perspective of one of the soldiers listening to the lesson. Under this interpretation, the observations of the surrounding gardens are the result of a young soldier’s inability to focus, preferring to think about nature’s beauty rather than how to use a violent weapon. In this way, then, nature proves itself capable of interfering with human thought, but human thought has seemingly no influence on nature itself.
To that end, even if these lines don’t actually belong to a distracted soldier, they still make it clear that nature creeps into the rifle lesson and ultimately overshadows it. Whereas the rifle lesson centers—albeit implicitly—around violence and destruction, this naturalistic imagery conveys a sense of growth and vitality. And it is this vitality that continues to flourish despite the emotionless, lifeless drone of the rifle lesson, effectively suggesting that even the most pressing human concerns are insignificant in the context nature and the world at large.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 4-6
- Lines 10-12
- Lines 16-18
- Lines 22-24
- Lines 28-30
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Violence and Mundanity
“Naming of Parts” is a poem about violence and warfare, but this isn’t immediately apparent because of the primary speaker’s procedural, unemotional attitude. To that end, the speaker hardly even acknowledges that the soldiers will eventually have to shoot their weapons. Indeed, this military instructor focuses on technical matters instead of addressing the violent implications of using a rifle during battle. In this way, violence manifests itself in the poem not as a harrowing or tragic act, but as a mundane procedure. In turn, the lesson distances the soldiers from the otherwise visceral and traumatic elements of violent warfare.
Throughout the poem, the speaker fixates on the process of naming, breaking down the military-issued rifle into discernible parts. This onslaught of terminology adds to the poem’s feeling of clinical mundanity, as the speaker offers up jargony terms like “the lower sling swivel,” “the safety-catch,” and “the bolt,” to cite just a few. Directing the soldiers’ attention to the names of these individual parts, the speaker fails to address the real impact of war and violence, which will clearly not have the same kind of emotional detachment as this lecture.
Ironically, then, the very lecture that is supposed to prepare the soldiers for war completely fails to do so; instead of focusing on what it’s like to experience violent combat, the lesson fixates on trivial matters like technical rifle terminology, turning the entire idea of violence into little more than a mindless, boring procedure.
Of course, this mundane approach to violence doesn’t necessarily mean that the speaker is fully unaware of the greater implications of using a rifle against an enemy. This is evident in the first stanza, when the speaker says, “And tomorrow morning / We shall have what to do after firing.” By saying this, the speaker subtly acknowledges that the soldiers will eventually have to learn how to deal with the aftermath of actually shooting at others. But instead of dwelling on this idea, the speaker immediately follows this phrase by saying, “But to-day, / Today we have naming of parts.”
In turn, it becomes clear that the speaker actively wants—at least for now—to focus exclusively on the small, seemingly ordinary details that crop up during wartime. As a result, the mundane process of naming rifle parts overshadows the disturbing reality of violence, approaching the traumatic experience of warfare with a surprisingly detached mindset.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4
- Lines 7-10
- Lines 13-16
- Lines 19-22
- Lines 25-28
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Naming of Parts”
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Lines 1-4
Today we have ...
... naming of parts.In the poem's opening, the speaker uses apostrophe to address an unidentified group. Because of the use of the word "we" in the opening line ("Today we have naming of parts"), readers understand right away that this group also includes the speaker.
Going on, the speaker asserts in line 3 that there will be a lecture the following day about "what to do after firing"—a statement that, along with the use of the word "we," indicates that the speaker is addressing a group of soldiers and, more generally, that the speaker is (like the soldiers) in the military too. In this way, the use of apostrophe in the opening stanza helps readers put together the poem's overall setting, making it easy to infer that the speaker is a military official giving a lecture about weaponry to a group of new soldiers.
More specifically, the references to "daily cleaning" and "what to do after firing" suggest that the speaker will be teaching the soldiers about their military-issued rifles. At this point, the soldiers have already learned how to clean their guns, and now they will learn the technical names of the various parts.
It's worth noting that the speaker repeats the phrase, "Today we have naming of parts" in lines 1 and 4. This repetition instills a sense of order in the poem, and this ultimately reflects the militaristic environment and the speaker's commitment to procedure. This persistent desire to focus closely on the technical aspects of handling a weapon is also a way for the speaker to put off considering the broader implications of using a gun during wartime. After all, a military rifle lesson carries obviously violent connotations, since teaching soldiers about their weapons is a stepping stone toward teaching them how to use these weapons, which in turn is a stepping stone toward killing enemies.
In keeping with this, the speaker says, "And tomorrow morning, / We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, / Today we have naming of parts." By saying this, the speaker acknowledges that the soldiers will eventually have to come to terms with the idea of actually firing their weapons. Even if the speaker is only thinking about this in technical terms (perhaps suggesting that the soldiers will have to do certain maintenance-related things after shooting their rifles), it's clear that these lines contain a recognition of the fact that there's more to being a soldier than simply naming the parts of a rifle.
However, the speaker is intent on focusing exclusively on this naming process, as evidenced by the repetition in lines 3 and 4: "But to-day," the speaker says after briefly mentioning the act of actually shooting the rifles, "Today we have naming of parts." By repeating the word "today," the speaker implies a desire to only think about the present, not wanting to consider the harsh realities of war, which will require the soldiers to use the rifles for violence. Instead of dwelling on this, the speaker becomes preoccupied with the mundane practice of cataloging the different rifle parts, effectively approaching the weapon not as a means of violence, but as an arbitrary, meaningless machine to be analyzed with a technical—not emotional—perspective.
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Lines 4-6
Japonica ...
... naming of parts. -
Lines 7-10
This is the ...
... have not got. -
Lines 10-12
The branches ...
... have not got. -
Lines 13-16
This is the ...
... in your thumb. -
Lines 16-18
The blossoms ...
... using their finger. -
Lines 19-22
And this you ...
... Easing the spring. -
Lines 22-24
And rapidly backwards ...
... easing the Spring. -
Lines 25-28
They call it ...
... have not got; -
Lines 28-30
and the almond-blossom ...
... naming of parts.
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“Naming of Parts” Symbols
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The Rifle
The instructor's emotionless focus on the different parts of a rifle is a perfect representation humankind's unfortunate tendency to approach even the most troubling topics in mundane, ordinary ways.
Rather than talking about how the soldiers should prepare themselves to face violence and carnage on the battlefield, the instructor fixates on terminology, as if the most important thing of all is that the soldiers know the term "piling swivel" even though they don't even have piling swivels on their weapons! In this way, the instructor's lesson is largely useless to the soldiers, at least insofar as the information they gain won't do anything to help them come to terms with the fact that they will soon be expected to kill people with the rifles.
And yet, the instructor continues to catalog the different parts of the rifle, thereby associating the weapon not with violence, but rather with mindless militaristic routines. In turn, the rifle itself comes to symbolize the human tendency to avoid thinking about difficult realities by obsessing over trivial matters.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4
- Line 6
- Lines 7-10
- Lines 13-16
- Lines 19-22
- Lines 25-28
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The Bees and Flowers
Because springtime is a time of rebirth, growth, and vitality, it comes to stand for all the ways in which the soldiers are missing out on their youth. More specifically, there is quite a bit of sexual innuendo in the poem, from the repetition of the phrase "rapidly backwards and forwards" to the bees and their clumsy "fumbling" of the newly budded flowers.
All of this serves as a reminder that the soldiers are unable to participate in the natural cycle of life because they're forced to focus on violent warfare, which is in stark opposition to the growth and sexuality that springtime represents. As a result, the fact that springtime flourishes all around them becomes somewhat torturous, taunting the soldiers by embodying all the natural, joyful, and sexual pleasures they're missing out on.
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 4-5: “ Japonica / Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens,”
- Lines 10-11: “ The branches / Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,”
- Lines 16-18: “ The blossoms / Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see / Any of them using their finger.”
- Lines 22-24: “ And rapidly backwards and forwards / The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers: / They call it easing the Spring.”
- Line 25: “They call it easing the Spring:”
- Lines 28-29: “ and the almond-blossom / Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,”
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“Naming of Parts” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Apostrophe
"Naming of Parts" is a poem that relies heavily on apostrophe, featuring a speaker who addresses a group of soldiers to deliver a lesson about military-issued rifles. This, however, isn't apparent right away, since the first line doesn't necessarily clarify the setting of the poem or reveal who, exactly, the speaker is addressing. Rather, these details develop over the course of the poem, as the speaker uses words like "we" and "you" to make it clear that there are other people listening to this lecture. For instance, the following passage makes it obvious that the speaker's words are intended for an audience (and not just the readers):
... And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got.When the speaker suggests that the listeners will understand the use of the "upper sling swivel" when they receive their "slings," readers sense that the speaker is not talking to them, but rather to a specific group of soldiers. As if to further underline this idea, the speaker adds that the soldiers do not have "piling swivel[s]" on their rifles, ultimately bringing in more specific details that emphasize the fact that the readers are not the speaker's intended audience. After all, it's very unlikely that the readers are in a similar situation as the soldiers while reading the poem, since they're surely not holding rifles, nor are they expecting to receive straps to connect to sling swivels.
At the same time, the overall effect of apostrophe is interesting in that it actually does invite readers to step into the world of the poem. Indeed, readers will perhaps feel like they are standing alongside the other soldiers and listening to the boring rifle lecture, since the instructor keeps using "you," therefore inviting readers to step into the soldiers' perspectives.
As a result, the lapses in apostrophe at the end of each stanza become even more noticeable. That is, whenever the poem shifts from addressing the soldiers to focusing on nature, readers feel a sudden and abrupt change, and many readers attribute these lines to a daydreaming soldier. This interpretation makes sense because it's an easy way to make sense of an otherwise startling interruption of the instructor's lecture.
Regardless of whether these thoughts really belong to a distracted soldier, though, one thing is certain: the lines of this poem are characterized by whether they make use of apostrophe, since the rifle lesson depends upon this device but the observations about nature do not. In this way, apostrophe significantly contributes to how readers make sense of the poem.
Where apostrophe appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4: “Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday, / We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning, / We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, / Today we have naming of parts.”
- Lines 7-10: “This is the lower sling swivel. And this / Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see, / When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel, / Which in your case you have not got.”
- Lines 13-16: “This is the safety-catch, which is always released / With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me / See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy / If you have any strength in your thumb.”
- Lines 19-22: “And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this / Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it / Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this / Easing the spring.”
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Anaphora
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Consonance
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Enjambment
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Juxtaposition
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Personification
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Repetition
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Polysyndeton
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Alliteration
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"Naming of Parts" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Japonica
- Coral
- Sling swivel
- Sling
- Piling swivel
- Eloquent
- Safety-catch
- Bolt
- Breech
- Cocking-piece
- Point of balance
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(Location in poem: Line 4: “Japonica”)
A kind of plant. Many plant names include the word "Japonica," so it's difficult to say exactly which species the speaker has in mind. However, the word "Japonica" was often used in the 20th century to refer to flowering shrubs known as "Japanese quince." At the same time, this reference to "Japonica" also may refer to a certain kind of camellia found in southern Japan.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Naming of Parts”
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Form
"Naming of Parts" has its own set structure, but it doesn't adhere to a previously established poetic form or tradition. The poem is broken into five stanzas, each of which is consists of six lines. Because of the frequent repetition throughout the stanzas, some readers may be reminded of the villanelle or the pantoum form, but the repeated phrases in "Naming of Parts" aren't consistent enough to adhere to either of these forms.
Having said that, the poem does follow its own internal conventions. For instance, it's not only the case that it's made up of sestets, but also that there is always a shift in tone and focus that comes partway through the fourth line of each stanza. To that end, the fourth line of every stanza features a caesura, after which roughly two and a half lines follow, concentrating on the natural world instead of on the rifle lesson. Because of this format, many readers uphold that the poem has two separate speakers: the military instructor who speaks in the first three and a half lines of each stanza, and then a daydreaming soldier who speaks in the remaining two and a half lines.
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Meter
"Naming of Parts" is a free verse poem. It is not composed in any set meter, even if most of its lines are roughly the same length and often contain a similar amount of syllables.
Instead of a specific meter driving the rhythm of the poem, the overall cadence is determined by the speaker's use of enjambment and, to a certain extent, the way caesuras interact with these instances of enjambment (as previously discussed in the Poetic Devices section of this guide). To that end, the majority of the lines in "Naming of Parts" carry over onto the next line, but there are also a number of caesuras that break up this otherwise unchecked flow. In turn, the poem takes on a unique rhythm that is achieved not through the use of formal meter, but through the strategic manipulation of momentum—a manipulation that often emulates the straightforward, clipped cadence of the military instructor.
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Rhyme Scheme
As a free verse poem, there is no rhyme scheme in "Naming of Parts." In a way, this aligns with the military instructor's dry, straightforward way of speaking, since the lack of rhyming lends the poem a certain sense of seriousness.
To that end, whatever internal slant rhymes exist in the poem feel mostly incidental. For instance, the slant rhyme in line 27 doesn't feel particularly significant: "And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point balance." Of course, "breech" and "piece" create a slant rhyme and this is perhaps adds a small amount of euphony to the line, but the effect this has on the overall poem is minor.
What's more important, it seems, is the repetition that runs throughout "Naming of Parts," which further accentuates the instructor's procedural, monotonous way of speaking. Similarly, the poem's lack of a rhyme scheme is more notable than the few instances of internal slant rhyme because it is this lack that underscores the instructor's emotionless, joyless attitude.
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“Naming of Parts” Speaker
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It is common to interpret the poem as having two speakers. The first is a military instructor who addresses a group of new soldiers and delivers a lecture about the terminology and uses of various parts on the soldiers' military-issued rifles. The second speaker—according to many readers—is one of the soldiers listening to this lecture. Except, of course, that the soldier isn't actually listening very closely, and is instead paying attention to the nearby gardens as they teem with life and the vitality of springtime.
Under this interpretation, the two speakers split each stanza, with the instructor delivering the rifle lesson for the first three and a half lines and then the soldier taking over in the final two and a half lines. The overall structure of the poem supports this reading, since each stanza features a significant shift in tone and perspective halfway through the fourth line. In fact, this change is quite evident even if readers choose to interpret the poem as having only one speaker, demonstrating that—at the very least—the instructor's lesson is interrupted in each stanza by brief observations of nature.
Furthermore, the instructor's general personality is easily discernible because of the straightforward, clipped cadence of the lecture, suggesting that this is a person who would rather focus on the mundane project of cataloguing rifle parts than on the violent implications of actually using a weapon during wartime. Despite the frequent interruptions, then, the instructor's procedural mentality comes through quite clearly, whereas the daydreaming soldier's personality is a bit harder to pinpoint, since the only thing readers know about this soldier is that he can't stay focused on the lecture.
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“Naming of Parts” Setting
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“Naming of Parts” takes place on a military base in early spring, as a military official addresses a group of soldiers and teaches them about their rifles. There are no more specifics beyond that, though readers can assume, based on the fact that the poem came out in 1942, that it more broadly takes place during World War II.
The mention of the Japonica plant in line 4 (“Today we ... Japonica”) also suggests something about the poem’s context. Japonica is native to Japan, and the poem’s author, Henry Reed, served as a Japanese translator during World War II. The mention of this plant thus hints at the conflict between the United Kingdom and Japan during WWII. The fact that, even as the (ostensibly British) soldiers learn how to use their weapons, the Japonica “glistens” nearby indicates that the beauty of nature flourishes in spite of human conflict. Nature doesn’t care who’s fighting, as made clear by the presence of Japonica in the context of a British military training session.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Naming of Parts”
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Literary Context
Because "Naming of Parts" is a poem about war and, more specifically, about Henry Reed's experience as a soldier during World War II, it belongs to an important category of 20th-century poetry devoted to unveiling the true nature of war. This genre was firmly established during and after World War I, when poets like Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke focused on the inglorious aspects of military life during one of history's bloodiest conflicts.
Like "Naming of Parts," Wilfred Owen's poem "Exposure" focuses on the monotony that sometimes arises during war. However, poems about World War I (including ones like "Exposure") are often harsh and gritty, dealing with violence in an unflinching, immediate manner.
In contrast, "Naming of Parts" exists as a different kind of war poem. After all, the style of combat in World War I was much different from the style of combat in World War II, which was fought more remotely. Indeed, the violence of World War I was immediate and visceral, since soldiers faced one another on actual battlefields, firing at each other from trenches. The battles of World War II, on the other hand, were much more spread out and involved machinery like tanks, airplanes, submarines, and guns that were more powerful than the ones used in World War I.
This emphasis on violent machinery is reflected in "Naming of Parts," which focuses on the parts of a rifle instead of on World War II itself. Other famous poems that center around the machinery of World War II include Randall Jarrett's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," Oscar Williams's "On the Summer Sky the Airship Hangs," and Karl Shapiro's "Troop Train." On the whole, all of these poems—both those about World War I and those about World War II—belong to the genre of war poetry that made up a large portion of the 20th century's overall poetic output.
Historical Context
"Naming of Parts" was published in 1942. World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945, meaning that the poem was published roughly in the middle of the war. The United Kingdom went to war with Japan in late 1941, which is why Henry Reed was assigned to be a Japanese translator and code breaker. This decision was made because he was fluent in French, Italian, and Greek, but he never actually travelled to Japan, nor did he take to Japanese as a language.
All in all, "Naming of Parts" is one of the very few war poems that Reed wrote, composing it during his basic training. In fact, he didn't write many poems at all in his life, transitioning after the war to become a radio broadcaster for the BBC, where he wrote several radio plays. As it stands, "Naming of Parts" is his best known and most enduring piece of writing, since it not only subtly critiques violence and war, but also celebrates classic poetic themes having to do with nature, beauty, and vitality.
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More “Naming of Parts” Resources
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External Resources
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About the Author — Learn more about Henry Reed in this short overview of his life and work.
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The Enfield Rifle — The rifle in question in "Naming of Parts" is, in all likelihood, the Lee-Enfield rifle. Read here about the long history of the Enfield rifle and its use in the British military in both World War I and World War II.
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the famous Welsh poet Dylan Thomas read "Naming of Parts" (but don't spell Henry Reed's name incorrectly like the person who uploaded this video did!).
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Lessons of the War — Check out the five other poems that accompany "Naming of Parts" in Henry Reed's "Lessons of the War."
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A Very Great Man Indeed — Listen to one of Henry Reed's radio plays, "A Very Great Man Indeed," which aired on BBC in 1953.
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