Belfast Confetti

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The fourth line, “I was trying to complete a sentence in my head, but it kept stuttering” means that the speaker finds it difficult to depict in words the terror that his eyes witnessed. He tried finding an escape, but he couldn’t.

Ireland, 2002 by Paul Durcan – In this poem, readers can find the themes of change, progress, and Irish identity. Explore more poems of Paul Durcan. Metaphors and extended metaphors are the two most important language techniques used in this poem. The metaphoric language used in this poem, portrays every single effect of violence, on the heart of the poet. Summer 1969 by Seamus Heaney– It’s one of the best-known Seamus Heaney poems. This poem was written during the Ulster riots of 1969 and explores the theme of conflict. Read more Seamus Heaney poems. This poem is about the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants, known as The Troubles, when in the 1960’s the Catholic community claimed they were being discriminated against by the Protestants.

Ciaran Carson

Carson has adopted a narrative style in this poem ‘Belfast Confetti’ to depict an entire scene to the readers. They can feel the horrifying scene just like it is depicted by the poet. By reading this poem, one can easily understand the pain that the scene and the riot must have caused to the poet. The following poems similarly showcase the themes included in Ciaran Carson’s haunting lyric ‘Belfast Confetti’. Carson’s speaker describes the war-like situation in the second line. The speaker can imagine a found of broken images floating in his mind and hear the sound of the explosion. In this line, the phrase, “Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys” hints at the scrap metals used as weapons by the Protestants during the “Troubles” in Ireland.

Carson has used the first-person narrative style to describe his feelings in the most efficient way. It is a free verse poem. Carson has used past tense to describe the violence held against the Catholic crowd in the place. He has used the same tense to portray the different effects of being in the middle of the conflict. Ciaran Carson is a poet and novelist who was born in Northern Ireland and has always had a deep passion for politics. He grew up in an era of political uproar and Northern Irish terrorism that scarred the Uk’s political and social life. Around the 1970’s the IRA (Irish Republican Army) failed to retrieve independence from British rule. In the 1970’s the Irish nationalist groups started to use violence in an attempt to gain independence from Britain. The British army occupied the streets of Northern Ireland to protect the Catholics. However, they saw it as an unwanted occupation.

Carson uses enjambment to internally connect the last two lines. After referring to those things, he feels quite tense. The way he speaks reveals the growing tension in his mind. He cannot even remember his name or where he lives. The situation was so worse that none could say where they were heading towards. In the last line, the phrase “A fusillade of question-marks” depicts the questions raised by the innocent eyes of the Catholics that were slaughtered by the merciless nationalist groups. 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.