Belfast Confetti - Ciaran Carson

Belfast Confetti - Ciaran Carson

1. Title

   • Suggests celebration
     • Opposite to what the phrase actually means
     • Confetti is used at weddings etc
       • 'Confetti' could be a metaphor for the shrapnel failing down on people
   • The phrase pre-dates the poem
     • Refers to screws, bolts and nails used as shrapnel in IRA bombs
       • IRA - Irish Republican Army (Terrorists)

2. Poetic Techniques

   • Metaphor
     • 'It was raining exclamation'
   • Enjambment throughout poem
     • Adds to the confusion created
   • Questions
     • 'My name? Where am I coming from? Where am I going?'
       • Asked like they are being interrogated
         • Everybody is under suspicion

3. Language

   • Language becomes a weapon
     • 'a burst of rapid fire...'
       • Ellipses used to illustrate gunfire
         • A visual reference to 'rapid fire'
     • 'it was raining exclamation marks'
       • Reference to people shouting!
       • Exclamation marks could be the shrapnal
     • 'the explosion itself - an asterisk'
       • Refers to the shape created by the explosion
         • *
     • 'blocked with stops and colons'
       • Talking about endings
         • Trapped feeling
     • 'A fusillade of question marks'
       • No one know what is going on
         • Confusion
     • 'Suddenly'
       • Abrupt opening
         • Like an explosion
         • Straight into action
   • Reference to conflict
     • 'Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman, Odessa Street'
       • List of street names
         • All refer to battles in the Crimean war
     • 'A Saracan'
       • vehicle - armoured personnel carrier
     • 'Kremlin-2 mesh'
       • Mesh for windscreen
         • Protected windows
     • 'Makrolon face-shields'
       • Police body armour

4. Subject and Themes

   • Language can become obsolete in war
     • Words can't express the horrors

5. Comparision

   • The Right Word
     • It's difficult to describe conflict
       • Words fail them

6. Form and Structure

   • First person
   • Two stanzas
   • Narrative struture
     • Told like a story