"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.

• Read the full text of “Naming of Parts”

• “Naming of Parts” Summary

• “Naming of Parts” Themes

  • 

    Nature's Indifference to Human Struggle

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-6
    • Lines 10-12
    • Lines 16-18
    • Lines 22-24
    • Lines 28-30
  • 

    Violence and Mundanity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 7-10
    • Lines 13-16
    • Lines 19-22
    • Lines 25-28

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Naming of Parts”

  • Lines 1-4

    Today we have ...
    ... naming of parts.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-6

    Japonica ...
    ... naming of parts.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-10

    This is the ...
    ... have not got.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-12

    The branches ...
    ... have not got.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    This is the ...
    ... in your thumb.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    The blossoms ...
    ... using their finger.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-22

    And this you ...
    ... Easing the spring.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-24

    And rapidly backwards ...
    ... easing the Spring.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    They call it ...
    ... have not got;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-30

    and the almond-blossom ...
    ... naming of parts.

    

    

    

    

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• “Naming of Parts” Symbols

  • 

    The Rifle

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Line 6
    • Lines 7-10
    • Lines 13-16
    • Lines 19-22
    • Lines 25-28
  • 

    The Bees and Flowers

    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,”

• “Naming of Parts” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    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.”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “This is the”
    • Lines 7-8: “And this / Is the”
    • Line 9: “And this is the”
    • Line 13: “This is the”
    • Line 19: “And this”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “Japonica”
    • Line 5: “Glistens,” “like,” “coral,” “in,” “all,” “neighbouring,” “gardens”
    • Line 6: “And,” “naming”
    • Line 7: “This,” “lower,” “sling,” “swivel,” “this”
    • Line 8: “sling,” “swivel,” “will,” “see”
    • Line 9: “When,” “slings,” “this,” “piling,” “swivel”
    • Line 10: “Which,” “case,” “branches”
    • Line 11: “Hold,” “gardens,” “silent,” “eloquent,” “gestures”
    • Line 12: “case”
    • Line 13: “This,” “safety,” “catch,” “which,” “always,” “released”
    • Line 14: “With,” “easy,” “flick,” “the,” “thumb,” “please”
    • Line 15: “See,” “using,” “his,” “easy”
    • Line 16: “strength,” “thumb,” “The,” “blossoms”
    • Line 17: “fragile,” “motionless,” “letting”
    • Line 18: “them,” “their,” “finger”
    • Line 19: “this,” “see,” “bolt,” “purpose,” “this”
    • Line 20: “breech,” “see,” “slide”
    • Line 21: “Rapidly,” “backwards,” “forwards,” “this”
    • Line 22: “Easing,” “spring,” “rapidly,” “backwards,” “forwards”
    • Line 23: “early,” “bees,” “assaulting,” “fumbling,” “flowers”
    • Line 24: “call,” “easing,” “Spring”
    • Line 25: “easing,” “Spring,” “easy”
    • Line 26: “strength,” “thumb,” “like,” “bolt”
    • Line 27: “breech,” “piece,” “point,” “balance”
    • Line 28: “almond,” “blossom”
    • Line 29: “Silent,” “all,” “gardens,” “bees,” “going,” “backwards,” “forwards”
    • Line 30: “For”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “Japonica / Glistens”
    • Lines 7-8: “this / Is”
    • Lines 8-9: “see, / When”
    • Lines 10-11: “branches / Hold”
    • Lines 13-14: “released / With”
    • Lines 14-15: “me / See”
    • Lines 15-16: “easy / If”
    • Lines 16-17: “blossoms / Are”
    • Lines 17-18: “see / Any”
    • Lines 19-20: “this / Is”
    • Lines 20-21: “it / Rapidly”
    • Lines 21-22: “this / Easing”
    • Lines 22-23: “forwards / The”
    • Lines 25-26: “easy / If”
    • Lines 28-29: “almond-blossom / Silent”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-6
    • Lines 9-11
    • Lines 15-18
    • Lines 20-24
    • Lines 25-26
    • Lines 27-30

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • 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.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Today we have naming of parts.”
    • Lines 3-4: “But to-day, / Today we have naming of parts.”
    • Line 6: “And today we have naming of parts.”
    • Lines 7-8: “This is the lower sling swivel. And this / Is the upper sling swivel,”
    • Line 9: “And this is the piling swivel,”
    • Line 10: “Which in your case you have not got.”
    • Line 12: “Which in our case we have not got.”
    • Line 15: “using his finger.”
    • Line 16: “If you have any strength in your thumb.”
    • Line 18: “using their finger.”
    • Line 21: “Rapidly backwards and forwards:”
    • Line 22: “Easing the spring.,” “rapidly backwards and forwards”
    • Line 24: “They call it easing the Spring.”
    • Line 25: “They call it easing the Spring:”
    • Line 26: “If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,”
    • Line 28: “Which in our case we have not got;”
    • Line 29: “backwards and forwards,”
    • Line 30: “For today we have naming of parts.”

  • Polysyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where polysyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 27-28: “And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance, / Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 7: “sling,” “swivel”
    • Line 8: “sling,” “swivel,” “see”
    • Line 9: “slings,” “swivel”
    • Line 11: “silent”
    • Line 14: “flick”
    • Line 15: “finger”
    • Line 17: “fragile”
    • Line 18: “finger”
    • Line 19: “bolt”
    • Line 20: “breech”
    • Line 21: “backwards,” “forwards”
    • Line 22: “backwards,” “forwards”
    • Line 23: “bees,” “fumbling,” “flowers”
    • Line 26: “bolt”
    • Line 27: “breech,” “balance”
    • Line 28: “blossom”
    • Line 29: “bees,” “backwards”

• “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
  • (Location in poem: Line 4: “Japonica”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Naming of Parts”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Naming of Parts” Speaker

• “Naming of Parts” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Naming of Parts”

• More “Naming of Parts” Resources

  • External Resources

    • About the Author — Learn more about Henry Reed in this short overview of his life and work.

    • 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.

    • 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!).

    • Lessons of the War — Check out the five other poems that accompany "Naming of Parts" in Henry Reed's "Lessons of the War." 

    • 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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