Belfast Confetti - Ciaran Carson

Attachments:

• Flag - John Agard
• The Yellow Palm - Robert Minhinnick
• Futility - Wilfred Owen
• Extract from Out of the Blue - Simon Armitage
• Poppies - Jane Weir
• next to of course god america i - E.E.Cummings
• Mametz Wood - Owen Sheers

1. Title
   1. Suggests celebration
      1. Opposite to what the phrase actually means
      2. Confetti is used at weddings etc
         1. 'Confetti' could be a metaphor for the shrapnel failing down on people
   2. The phrase pre-dates the poem
      1. Refers to screws, bolts and nails used as shrapnel in IRA bombs

         Annotations:

         • IRA - Irish Republican Army (Terrorists)
2. Poetic Techniques
   1. Metaphor
      1. 'It was raining exclamation'
   2. Enjambment throughout poem
      1. Adds to the confusion created
   3. Questions
      1. 'My name? Where am I coming from? Where am I going?'
         1. Asked like they are being interrogated
            1. Everybody is under suspicion
3. Language
   1. Language becomes a weapon
      1. 'a burst of rapid fire...'
         1. Ellipses used to illustrate gunfire
            1. A visual reference to 'rapid fire'
      2. 'it was raining exclamation marks'
         1. Reference to people shouting!
         2. Exclamation marks could be the shrapnal
      3. 'the explosion itself - an asterisk'
         1. Refers to the shape created by the explosion
            1. *
      4. 'blocked with stops and colons'
         1. Talking about endings
            1. Trapped feeling
      5. 'A fusillade of question marks'
         1. No one know what is going on
            1. Confusion
      6. 'Suddenly'
         1. Abrupt opening
            1. Like an explosion
            2. Straight into action
   2. Reference to conflict
      1. 'Balaklava, Raglan, Inkerman, Odessa Street'
         1. List of street names
            1. All refer to battles in the Crimean war
      2. 'A Saracan'
         1. vehicle - armoured personnel carrier
      3. 'Kremlin-2 mesh'
         1. Mesh for windscreen
            1. Protected windows
      4. 'Makrolon face-shields'
         1. Police body armour
4. Subject and Themes
   1. Language can become obsolete in war
      1. Words can't express the horrors
5. Comparision
   1. The Right Word
      1. It's difficult to describe conflict
         1. Words fail them
6. Form and Structure
   1. First person
   2. Two stanzas
   3. Narrative struture
      1. Told like a story