From the Frontier of Writing

Subject/Purpose: This poem is about being interrogated at a military checkpoint

between Northern Ireland and The Republic and this is used as an analogy for Heaney
facing public appraisal or criticism of his work, hence the title.

Structure: The poem is written in 8 3-line stanzas and is divided into two equal
halves. The intimidating imagery of military scrutiny is evident in both.
The use of enjambment and lack of punctuation (the first 4 stanzas are 1 sentence)
gives the first half of the poem a feeling of being rushed through a process of
inspection and “interrogation”. The second half is much more tightly structured - 3
sentences and many more punctaution marks – suggesting that Heaney is in control as
opposed to being subject to the soldiers.

The opening lines have a sense of immediacy and an atmosphere of helplessness and
paralysis is created. The use of the present tense helps us visualise being in this
situation as well as the use of the personal pronoun “you”. The “unconcerned
acceleration” suggests pretending to be innocent although you are – a slightly strange
juxtaposition which makes the atmosphere more intense. There is a confession of fear
and an admission of weakness. There is “quiver in the self”, he feels “subjugated” and
“obedient”. The word choice “always” implies familiarity – this scene is
commonplace but so is the self doubt.

The first line of the fifth stanza echoes the title and marks the shift in focus from an
actual roadblock to a metaphorical one. “where it happens again” creates a link
beteween the interrogation by the military, and the similar feeling caused by public
scrutiny of Heaney’s poetry.

“The guns on tripods;

the sergeant with his on-off mike repeating
data about you, waiting for the squawk
of clearance; the marksman training down
out of the sun upon you like a hawk.”

The military terms for observation used here are used by Heaney to show how he
feels about the reception of his writing – he feels as though there are critics trained on
him ready to pounce if he doesn’t get ‘clearance’, ie. his poetry is not
liked/appreciated. The word choice of ‘hawk’ emphasises the idea of Heaney as
hunted or subjugated, as a poet, Heaney has ‘subjugated’ himself to the criticism of
both a public and academic audience.

The 7th stanza marks a change in atmosphere to one of freedom, the sense of a weight
being lifted is palpable, you can almost hear the sigh of releif. “waterfall” and
“current” are water referances which denote creativity throughout Heaney’s poetry
and here also suggest a kind os cleansing and moving on, as though he has freed
himself of their power over him by passing throught the waterfall.The threat of the
military fades in to the distance, becoming smaller and smaller as he metaphorically
drives away:“The posted soldiers flowing and receding/like tree shadows into the
polished windscreen.”