Crossing the Line

Crossing the line was written during 1966. In a blank verse clearly got at by the rhythms of the sea, the poet draws together his feelings about his own country at the time and his wish to get free of it for a while; and then explores, through the events and people on board, the practical and symbolic effects of crossing into the Southern Hemisphere for the first (and, as it now seems likely, the last) time in his life. As it happened, he returned to Britain two years later, after his first stint. The line crossed though remained real and sharply divided his life into two halves.