Beating the Bounds: mapping the borders of self and landscape in the work of John Burnside and Tim Robinson

Abstract

This article examines the significance of borders and boundaries in the work of Tim Robinson and John Burnside. Robinson's circumnavigation of the coast of Aran and Burnside's explorations of the borders of the ‘dwelling space’ are discussed in relation to the folk ritual known as ‘Beating the Bounds’, which is theorised here as a process of physical, experiential mapping. This article argues that both Burnside and Robinson use their literal and literary ‘Beating the Bounds’ as a means of mapping the concepts of ‘self’ and ‘landscape’ at non-human scales. Links between these two writers are explored through an analysis of Robinson's metaphor of the ‘good step’. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which these writers make use of their respective forms (poetry and non-fiction prose) to explore similar ideas relating to borders and boundaries. The conclusion discusses this reading of Burnside and Robinson in relation to Timothy Clark's recent paper ‘Derangements of Scale’.