belfast confetti*

• what is belfast confetti about

  the troubles in northern ireland, between the catholics and protestants
• the poem starts with the word "suddenly" what is this technique and what is its emphasis?

  • in media res
  • suggests the narrator is scared/distracted/confused
• what is the purpose of the punctuation metaphors?

  • make the reader visualise the sense of alarm
  • violence destroys language
• what is the structure of the poem?

  • it is a skewed sonnet
  • it has 14 lines but they are all over the place - the visual form is erratic which symbolises chaotic nature of action
• who is the author?

  ciaran carson
• what year was the poem written?

  1987
• what punctuation examples are used in the poem?

  • exclamation marks
  • asterisk
  • hyphenated line
  • full stops
  • colons
  • question marks
• "suddenly (...) it was raining exclamation marks"


  in media res suggests the narrator is distracted/confused. Imagery: has dark and depressing connotations and represents crying. Use of metaphors and enjambment. The exclamation marks represent debris falling down as a result of a bomb.
• "i was trying to complete a sentence in my head but it kept stuttering."


  metaphor: creating a sense of chaos and confusion. "stuttering" represents the sounds of gunshots.
• "what is/my name? Where am I coming from? Where am i going? A fullisade of question marks"


  the punctuation metaphor emphasises the feeling of fear and confusion and the unanswered questions. The 3 rhetorical questions are triplets. People with head injuries sometimes lose their memory: they don't know what's going on, they're disorientated.
• "all alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and colons"


  the colons and stops represent pillars or blockades and show how he feel as though they are trapped and cannot escape, he feels as though he will always be stuck in this nightmare.
• what is the extended metaphor of the whole poem?

  violence destroys language.