Use italics (lyric) and bold (lyric) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part The poem ‘Belfast Confetti,’ one of the best-known poems of Ciaran Carson, pulls the reader into the aftermath of Belfast’s sectarian riot. He has used punctuationto symbolize missiles that Protestants used during this riot, which was against the Catholic crowd in Belfast.

Subject matter - Belfast Confetti - CCEA - GCSE English - BBC Subject matter - Belfast Confetti - CCEA - GCSE English - BBC

Belfast Confetti’by Ciaran Carson describes a speaker watching the live scene after the riot between the shipyard workers, who were the Protestants, and the Catholics.BelfastConfettiandWWTL-thefirstisapoemaboutconfusionduringaconflict,thesecondisaboutpossibleeffectsofconflict The following poems similarly showcase the themes included in Ciaran Carson’s haunting lyric ‘Belfast Confetti’.

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

Line 8: “S,” “r,” “c,” “n,” “K,” “r,” “m,” “n,” “m,” “sh,” “M,” “k,” “r,” “c,” “sh,” “s,” “W,” “k,” “k,” “s,” “W,” “s” Line 2: “N,” “ts,” “b,” “t,” “s,” “n,” “s,” “c,” “k,” “s,” “n,” “t,” “b,” “k,” “n,” “t,” “n,” “x,” “p,” “n”Half-casteandNoProblem-challengingracismindifferentways(personallyIwouldlookmoreatcomparingHalf-castetoTheClassGame) The allegory of using punctuation to symbolises the horrors of the riot continues here. 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. This poem is about the aftermath of the “Troubles” that were an ethnic-nationalist period of conflict in Northern Ireland. The situation lasted for 30 years from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. It is also known as the Northern Ireland conflict. The poet describes the aftermath of the sectarian riot in Belfast. His speaker describes how the confusion outside leads to a chain of internal confusions. He cannot think properly. The events that he observed keep flooding his mind, leaving him only with questions. The rhetorical question creates a tone of desperation. The short, heavily punctuated, sentences, once again, give a choppy quality to the narrative. Now, this choppiness seems to signify the distress and his desperation to escape the riot.

Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson test questions - CCEA - BBC Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson test questions - CCEA - BBC

To understand this language we must reflect on the asterisk and its uses. It is used to mark significance in a piece of text. Carson relates this idea of significance to an ‘explosion’. Carson creatively comments on the caesura of this line here as well – saying that the hyphen gives the spoken narrative a choppiness just like a ‘burst f rapid [machine gun] fire’. 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. In the eighth line, the speaker speaks incoherently. Firstly, he refers to the Saracen tanks and the metal netting used over the tanks that are known as the Kremlin-2 mesh. The police used those things to control the riot. They used “Makrolon face-shields” while the mob only had nuts, bolts, nails, and car keys. To communicate among themselves they used Walkie-talkies.