1. No category

Belfast Confetti
By Ciaran Carson
Objectives
Know what the poem is about
Be able to annotate key ideas in the poem
Understand the feelings of the poet as
portrayed in the poem
Confetti – Associations?
Definition ‘Belfast Confetti…’
• (Slang) screws, bolts, and metal shop scrap
used by rioters as missiles.
What is the significance of the poem’s title?
Ciaran Carson
• Born Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1948
• Carson was a young man in Belfast when the
Troubles began in 1969.
• ‘The Troubles’ refers to almost 30 years of
violence between the nationalists (mainly
Catholics) who wanted independence from the
UK and the unionists (mainly protestants) who
believed in strengthening political ties between
Northern Ireland and Britain.
Background: What was ‘The Troubles’?
‘The Troubles’ was a period of conflict in Northern
Ireland which spilled over at various times into England,
the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. It is
generally agreed to lasted from the late 1960s until
1998, when the “Good Friday” Agreement was signed.
Nevertheless, violence still continues on a sporadic
basis.
The main issues in the Troubles were the status of
Northern Ireland and the relationship between the
Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern
Ireland. The Troubles had both political and military
dimensions. Its participants included politicians and
political activists on both sides, and the British and Irish
armies.
Background: What caused ‘The Troubles’?
• Britain ruled Ireland, both politically and religiously.
• Ireland was split down religious lines: the lower classes
were Catholic Irish and the upper classes were
Protestant English.
• The Irish state was created in 1920 and was split into
the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.
• A referendum was held on the future of Northern
Ireland to decide whether it would join the Irish
Republic or stay with the United Kingdom.
• Northern Ireland (which is overwhelmingly Protestant)
voted to stay with the UK.
• The remaining Catholics wanted to be part of the Irish
Republic and didn’t want any British control on any part
of Ireland.
Examples of Irish Republican Army (IRA)
posters:
Examples of murals in Northern Ireland:
Examples IRA attacks:
London, 1993
Manchester, 1996
Omagh, 1998
• TASK:
• The words below have been taken from a
poem you will be studying. Create as many
categories as you need to sort these words
into groups.
• Sort the words into different groups:
• You can label the groups as you wish, eg
colour or movement words.
• You can put a word into more than one
category if you wish.
•alleyways asterisk balaclava Belfast
blocked bolts broken burst car-keys colons
complete confetti Crimea dead end escape
exclamation explosion face-shields fire
fount fusillade head hyphenated Inkerman
kept know Kremlin-2 labyrinth line
makrolon map marks mesh move nails
name nuts Odessa punctuated questionmarks raglan raining rapid riot Saracen
sentence side squad stops streets
stuttering suddenly type walkietalkies well
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fount – fountain
Asterisk – a star shaped mark *
Hyphen – a short stroke joining two words
Labyrinth – a maze – a tangle of intricate
connections
Balaclava, Raglan, Inkerman, Odessa – famous
historical battles
Crimea – the scene of the Crimean war
Saracen – military tank vehicle
Kremlin – the Russian word for fortress; also the
government building of the Soviet Union
Makrolon – transparent tough material,
resistant to impact
Fusillade – rapid continual discharge of firearms
Language in the poem
Balaclavastreet names
celebrating
battles in
Crimean war
A raglan
The Inkerman memorial
to the Crimean war.
Language in the poem
A saracen
The Kremlin, in Russia
Makrolon
face-shield
Language in the poem
A fusillade is a collection of weapons all firing at once on a target.
Hear the poet saying the poem:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/si
nglePoem.do?poemId=339
LO: To explore and analyse the poem
Title: Annotate ‘Belfast Confetti’
STARTER
1. Jot down three things you learnt last lesson
in bullet points.
2. Now we will read the poem.
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: .: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :
Read, discuss and annotate poem…
1. Protest was supposed to be peaceful but ended up a
bloody riot.
2. Note down some ideas on how punctuation shows
conflict.
3. What impact do the indented lines have when read by
themselves?
4. EXT: Can you identify the different tones and emotions in
the poem? At what points is there a change in tone and
emotion?
Annotation
Starts in
the middle
of the
action.
An image of
celebration
• Belfast Confetti
Metaphor gives
visual image of
bomb as well as
sense of alarm
Suddenly as the riot squad moved in it was raining exclamation
marks,
Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys. A fount of broken type. And
the explosion Suggests broken metal and the failure of
words to describe the scene
Itself – an asterisk on the map. This hyphenated line, a burst of
rapid fire …
What is this
describing?
Reflects the sound of gunfire and the
speaker’s fear - onomatopoeia
I was trying to complete a sentence in my head, but it kept
stuttering,
All the alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and
colons.
Trying to
escape but
cannot
Relates to mythology.
Knows area but still trapped
Areas and roads in Belfast
I know this labyrinth so well – Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman,
Odessa Street –
Why can’t I escape? Every move is punctuated. Crimea Street.
Dead end again.
Surrounded by communication
by security forces
Implies violence
and hesitation
A Saracen, Kremlin-2 mesh. Makrolon face-shields. Walkietalkies. What is Implies he is having these questions shouted at
him. from? Where am I going?
My name? Where am I coming
A fusillade of question-marks.
What does the last
line mean?
HOMEWORK: Complete this PEE
• POINT: The consequences of war are presented in
Ciaran Carson’s ‘Belfast Confetti’.
• Evidence: “ Where am I coming from? Where am I
going?”
• Explanation:
– What do the questions tell us about the effect of war
on the speaker?
– What is the tone of the speaker?
– What is this poem saying about war (meaning?)
Questions
• What has the speaker been caught up in?
• Why can the speaker not escape from the
area?
• Why does the speaker use irregular line
lengths and incomplete sentences?
• The language changes from past to present
between the 1st and 2nd stanza. Why has the
poet done this?
• What does the poet suggest about himself in
the poem?
Raining Exclamation marks
• ‘Belfast Confetti’ is extremely visual and Carson
has made use of vivid imagery. On the next slide
are some of the key images from the poem.
 draw what you see or feel – ideally using colour
 identify whether the quotation is a simile or a
metaphor
 describe the effect it has on you, the reader, in
your own words.
Quotation
‘raining
exclamation
marks’
‘A fount of broken
type’
‘an asterisk on the
map’
‘This hyphenated
line’
‘blocked with stops
and colons’
‘A fusillade of
question-marks’
Simile
Metaphor
Effect
Join up with another pair to compare your
answers and discuss differing points of view.
• What impact does Carson’s use of imagery have on you?
• How does Carson build up a sense of panic and claustrophobia?
• Why do you think he uses so much punctuation in the poem
itself? Why does he make such extensive references to
punctuation and language?
• He uses a lot of proper nouns in the poem. Circle or highlight
these and consider why he has chosen to use these words.
• Explore the imagery of the title of the poem. What ideas does
it suggest?