Belfast Confetti

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The narrator’s inability to ‘complete a sentence in [his] head’ is a metaphor for the chaos and irrationality of the riot and the disorientating effect this is having on his composure. In 1969 he narrowly missed death when a bullet tore through a taxi he was sitting in on the Falls Road. I'mtakingmyEnglishLitreatureGCSEthisyear-1-9Edexel(2018)andI'mstrugglingtomemoriseeverysinglepoem,withquotations. This poem is about the aftermath of the “Troubles” that were an ethnic-nationalist period of conflict in Northern Ireland. The “Saracen” is a reference to the tanks used by the riot police to disperse the mob from the situation.

Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson - Poem Analysis

He uses a first-person narrative technique to describe the events during the Troubles in Belfast from the perspective of a person who was there at that time. Carson identifies how full ‘stops’ and ‘colons’ act like a barrier between two sentences or clauses in literature and transfers this to barriers, likely scattered debris, to the riot-torn streets. The style used by Carson explores how the external conflict impacts his mind while he tries to pen down his thoughts. According to him, it is just so impossible for him to find an escape because every road has a “Dead end again.The metaphoric language used in this poem, portrays every single effect of violence, on the heart of the poet. IwaswonderingifIcouldgetawaywithstudyingafewpoemsindepth,thatmoreorlesscancomparetoanyotherpoem,suchasHalfcaste,TheClassGameorExposureandafewmore. The poem ‘Belfast Confetti,’ one of the best-known poems of Ciaran Carson, pulls the reader into the aftermath of Belfast’s sectarian riot. In the sixth line, the speaker compares the chain of events that occurred in other places such as Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman, and Odessa Street to a “labyrinth”. Outside History by Eavan Boland – This poem speaks on the larger history of Ireland, the role of women in history, and the life of stars.

Belfast Confetti - Poetry Archive

Yet, he is simply unable to forgive himself and whenever he travels back in time, the first thing that comes to his mind is his inability to help people during the riot. In the 1970’s the Irish nationalist groups started to use violence in an attempt to gain independence from Britain. During the mid-1970s, the groups of Irish nationalists had also started violent attacks to make the UK government build an independent region of Britain. The hidden meaning behind his words means that even if he has escaped the riot and survived, he will never be able to get rid of the sight that he witnessed; the violent scene is going to haunt his memories forever. The allegory of Carson using punctuation to portray the violence begins as he describes it as ‘raining exclamation marks’.

They also work as metaphors close metaphor A word or phrase which is representative or symbolic of something else.

Writing a response - Belfast Confetti - CCEA - GCSE English Writing a response - Belfast Confetti - CCEA - GCSE English

We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. The Road Not Taken uses its narrative close narrative A story - a spoken or written account of events that connect together. When you read ‘Belfast Confetti,’ you, as a reader, feel like you are witnessing the entire scene all by yourself.

But then again, he was petrified with the sight and there was absolutely no move that he could make due to the harshness noticed in the eyes of the humans against those, who were made by the same flesh and blood.

Belfast Confetti - GCSE English Language and English Literature Belfast Confetti - GCSE English Language and English Literature

JuststartingtomakenotesoncomparisonbutIcan'tfigureoutwhichpoemstocompare,alsorllyhardtofindresourcesonlineforedexcel(mostofstuffisaqa).Carson uses “stops and colons” to refer to how all the ways of the city were blocked during the “Troubles”. The poem is about the aftermath of the Troubles (a period of conflict in Northern Ireland ranging for about 30 years) in the capital city of Northern Ireland, Belfast. It was framed by a civil rights march in Londonderry on 5 October 1968 and the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998.