Be advised my passport's green

No glass of ours was ever raised

To toast the Queen

So wrote Seamus Heaney. His passport may now be purple, but the Nobel laureate from Derry is as unlikely now as ever to accept the role of poet laureate to the British monarch.

The news last week of his being tipped as perhaps the most unlikely front-runner for the position, gleaned from his wife, Marie, the reported response that it would "not be an option for Seamus". When his work was included last year in an anthology of British poetry, he wrote to its publishers pointing out he was Irish, not British.

Heaney is currently on a tour of the United States, but last Thursday his wife said "he is not considering the laureateship and I have no idea if he has been shortlisted or not. And I know Seamus hadn't heard of it as of yesterday".

It seems unlikely thus that the St Columb's College graduate will be penning wedding odes for Prince Edward this summer, and since Tuesday the shortlist on which his name appeared has grown still shorter.

Yorkshire-born Tony Harrison was yet more strident than the absent Heaney could be, with a 26-verse rebuttal of any suggestion that he would be interested in the post. It included the following verse, sent to the laureate's block website of one British newspaper:

I'm appalled to see newspapers use my name as `widely tipped' for a job I'd never seek

Swans come in Domestic, Mute and Tame and no swan-upper's going to nick my beak.

There remains just two on the originally publicised list of four - Glaswegian Carol Anne Duffy and the biographer Andrew Motion - who might be willing to accept the job.

The current vacancy arises after the death of the last laureate, Ted Hughes. Attempts are being made to address the fact that the prospect of what has been traditionally, if not always universally, seen as the highest accolade a poet could receive is being met with derision. Soundings are being taken by Tony Blair's office as to who might take the job.

According to Lucy MacNeill, press officer at Blair's office in Downing Street, there "might well have been suggestions from Ireland submitted". A final decision will be taken by Mr Blair before the end of March. It has also been agreed that the post should come with a salary of £20,000 sterling, that it should be for a fixed term of 10 years and that there should perhaps be some secretarial help.

Up until now, the poet laureate has been appointed for life though with no formal duties. The laureate has produced "occasional poems" for such events as royal weddings, christenings and birthdays, for which they were paid £70 a year and a case of wine.

But that is changing. It is agreed now the laureate's role should be one of tapping into the British national mood. Some people, such as the English republican Tom Paulin, believes the laureate has become a "court stooge" and that the time is right for a rethink. He believes the role should be one of a people's poet, and that the links with the monarchy should be diminished if not extinguished.

Paulin says the laureateship should resemble more closely the similar post in America, currently held by Robert Pinsky. He is unlikely to pen stanzas on the impeachment of President Clinton, but is much more likely to give lectures and readings to enhance the role of poetry in American life.

Former deputy leader of the Labour Party in Britain, Roy Hattersley, asked during the week: "Why are we making so much fuss about the choice of poet laureate? The solution to the dilemma is obvious enough. The title . . . ought to be abolished. Poets are too important to be treated like potential starters in the Grand National."

Joanna Mackle, publishing editor of Britain's largest poetry publishing house, Faber and Faber, describes the post as holding a "central place in our culture. It is crucial, though, how it's defined and who holds the post, as they will shape it".

The appointment is made by Queen Elizabeth, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. His office has listened to the views of numerous literary bodies, including the British Council, the Poetry Library, the Poetry Society and the Arts Council of England.

The queen, however, may do well to pay some heed to the sounds from Tony Harrison during the week, who opined in verse that though there may be poets whom monarchists may try:

They [the poets] might well get a Garter for their guts.

You'll never hear me heave an envious sigh

I'd sooner be a free man with no butts

free not to have to puff some prince's wedding

free to say up yours to Tony Blair

to write an ode on Charles I beheading

and regret the restoration of his heir.