Background
A Constable Calls is the second poem in Seamus Heaney’s series called Singing School. It immediately follows The Ministry of Fear and reflects a similar theme. In this poem, Heaney recounts a memory of a constable visiting his house to take account of his father’s agricultural assets. Throughout the poem, Heaney incorporates diction that creates an ominous air around the constable. The main takeaway from the poem is that the constable’s very presence creates an overwhelming anxiety in the young Heaney. When his father omits mentioning a small row of tulips in the garden, Heaney begins to fear his father will be taken away to prison. Heaney’s feelings of fear and anxiety as a result of this encounter are meant to mirror the larger relationship between Catholics and police in Northern Ireland, and how Catholics cannot even trust the very people that are supposed to be tasked with protecting the citizens of Ulster.
2. A Constable Calls [1]
His bicycle stood at the window-sill,
The rubber cowl of a mud-splasher
Skirting the front mudguard,
Its fat black handlegrips
Heating in sunlight, the ‘spud’
Of the dynamo gleaming and cocked back [2],
The pedal treads hanging relieved
Of the boot of the law [3].
His cap was upside down
On the floor, next his chair.
The line of its pressure ran like a bevel
In his slightly sweating hair [4].
He had unstrapped [5]
The heavy ledger, and my father
Was making tillage returns
In acres, roods, and perches.
Arithmetic and fear [6].
I sat staring at the polished holster
With its buttoned flap, the braid cord
Looped into the revolver butt.
‘Any other root crops?
Mangolds? Marrowstems? Anything like that?’
‘No.’ But was there not a line
Of turnips where the seed ran out
In the potato field? [7] I assumed
Small guilts and sat
Imagining the black hole in the barracks [8].
He stood up, shifted the baton-case
Farther round on his belt,
Closed the domesday book [9],
Fitted his cap back with two hands,
And looked at me as he said goodbye.
A shadow bobbed in the window.
He was snapping the carrier spring
Over the ledger. His boot pushed off
And the bicycle ticked, ticked, ticked [10].
PREVIOUS: The Ministry of Fear
[1] Heaney, Seamus. “Singing School.” Poetry Foundation. Web. 1 December 2014. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178022. [2] Heaney’s use of the phrase “cocked back” strongly connotes the hammer of a pistol as it is being readied to fire, indicating the fear that the mere presence of this constable instills in the young Heaney. [3] In using the word “relieved,” Heaney is reminding the reader of the sense of pressure and weight ordinary citizens felt under the authority of the R.U.C. and the B-Specials. The “boot of the law” weighs down upon citizens of Northern Ireland. [4] Heaney again brings up the idea of this always present pressure, and of the necessity to conform to standards of good, honest behavior, especially among Catholics, for fear of dire consequences. [5] “Unstrapped,” like “cocked back,” calls to mind the image of a constable’s pistol. “Unstrapped” would refer to the holster, and by ending the line on that word, Heaney leaves the reader wondering for a moment what exactly was unstrapped. This mirrors the fear and apprehension toward the constable Heaney felt as a youth. [6] Here, Heaney is making it clear to the reader how even mundane things like mathematics could be infused with an air of fear and suspicion. [7] Heaney worries that his father’s failure to mention the line of turnips will end up landing him in jail. The fact that a minor omission could have such dire consequences mirrors the overall climate in the “Ministry of Fear,” and further emphasizes how disenfranchised working class Catholics were. [8] By referring to the “black hole in the barracks,” Heaney is suggesting that the barracks was a place people disappeared to, a place that they might not come back from. [9] Referring to the ledger as a “domesday book” makes it clear to the reader that Heaney felt this constable had his father’s fate in his hands. If it were found that his father had lied, he would almost certainly be jailed. [10] The ticking of the bike can serve two meanings. On one hand, it could be meant to connote the counting down of a timer towards his father’s lie being discovered. On the other hand, it could also be meant to connote the ticking of a bomb, such as those commonly used by paramilitary forces against police at the time.Roadmap
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