6. Ciaran Carson says:
‘…if there was a riot in the shipyard they would
assemble the collective nuts and bolts, iron
bits for this and that and the other thing… ‘For
we’ll throw some Belfast Confetti on them
and see how they will be getting on with
that.’…and the accent comes across…‘Belfast
Confetti’…it’s not nice.’
7. …I see those poems as being very much just as if
I were an eye on the scene. As if I were alert
to the sounds of the time and what was going
on at the exact time.’
8. Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948. His first
language was Irish. Until recently he worked as
Literature and Traditional Arts Officer in the Arts
Council of Northern Ireland. His collections include The
New Estate and Other Poems, The Irish for No, Belfast
Confetti, First Language and Opera Et Cetera. He is a
musician and has published Last Night's Fun, a book
about Irish Traditional Music. The Poems in this
selection are Turn Again and Belfast Confetti. In 2001
he was nominated for the Booker Prize for book
Shamrock Tea. He won the Forward Prize for Poetry in
2003. The Carson poems on this site are Turn Again
and Belfast Confetti.
9. Belfast Confetti
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.
Itself - an asterisk on the map. This hyphenated line, a burst
of rapid fire...
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.
10. I know this labyrinth so well - Balaclava, Raglan,
Inkerman,
Odessa Street -
Why can’t I escape? Every move is punctuated.
Crimea
Street. Dead end again.
A Saracen, Kremlin-2 mesh. Makrolon face-
shields. Walkie-
talkies. What is
My name? Where am I coming from? Where am I
going? A
fusillade of question- marks.
11. Match the image with the quote -
lower
• Suddenly as the riot squad moved in, it was raining
exclamation marks,
• Itself - an asterisk on the map.
• All the alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and
colons.
• Makrolon face-shields.
• A
fusillade of question- marks
12. Semantic field: A set of words related
in meaning
Violence / Movement: Inability to
aggression: Escape
move:
Riot squad Stops and colons
EXT: What is the effect of the use of these semantic fields? E.g. The contrast created
between the semantic fields of movement and inability to move reinforces the poet’s
feeling of frustration and confusion.
13. Identify imagery in this poem: words
and phrases that describe the streets
• EXT: Why does Carson use the image of confetti
in this poem?
14. Answer at least 4 of these questions:
No 1 is the easiest one and they get
progressively harder
1. Look at the rhetorical questions in the second stanza. Comment on their
effect.
2. “Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys. A fount of broken type. And the
explosion.”
What kind of sentences and what punctuation are used here to show the
speed of the unfolding chaos?
3. How do the dashes and full-stops reinforce that the poet “know(s) this
labyrinth so well”.
4. What is the effect of the short, elliptic sentences in the last stanza?
“Why can’t I escape? Every move is punctuated. Crimea
Street. Dead end again.
A Saracen, Kremlin-2 mesh. Makrolon face-shields. Walkie-
talkies. “
5. Find one example of enjambment in the poem. Comment on its effect.
6. The poem has an irregular layout – the lines are of various length. Why?
7. The poem is written in free verse. Thinking about the context of the poem,
can you answer why there’s not rhyme?
15. Lower sets
• Suddenly as the riot squad moved in, it was raining Rhetorical question
exclamation marks Metaphor
Short sentence
• Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys. A fount of broken type. And the List
explosion. Ellipsis
• My name? Where am I coming from? Where am I going?
• This hyphenated line, a burst
of rapid fire...
• Street. Dead end again. What is the effect of these poetic devices?
The poet uses a metaphor when he says,
“.....”. The effect of this is ...../This suggests....
16. Consolidate / HW
How does the poet describe violence, conflict
and the breakdown of communication in
“Belfast Confetti”?
Answer in PQEs.
