The poetic character of Henry Reed

This study focuses on the poetic writings of the Englishman Henry Reed, all the while recognizing the often arbitrary distinction between prose and poetry. Its first chapter emphasizes Reed's conscious apprenticeship for a literary life, with strong emphasis on the study of languages, ancient and modern, and continental travel. The second chapter investigates Reed's early poetry and argues that Reed misunderstood his own poetic gifts, shortchanging his obvious talent for dramatic and comic verse in favor of obscure, lofty lyricism. The third chapter is a study of the "poetic in Reed's radio drama, including not only his study of the Italian poet Leopardi and adaptation of Moby Dick, but also his songs and passages of highly lyrical prose from the plays. The fourth chapter looks closely at his masterpiece, a sequence of five poems of World War II entitled Lessons of the War. Chapter Five looks at the late poems, including “The Auction Sale" which, like Lessons and the best of the radio plays, artfully juxtaposes the lofty and the mundane, the comic and the pathetic. Reed is ultimately seen as a writer of limited creativity but great wit and precision. At least ten of his poems and five of his plays deserve a final place in English literature.