Belfast Confetti

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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.

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.

Ciaran Carson

Carson has used the first-person narrative style to describe his feelings in the most efficient way. It is a free verse poem. 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. 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. The poet has also used the present tense to portray a live scene of what he went through during the time he witnessed the violence. He has used this tense to describe his experience and the aftermath of the riot.

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.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.

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.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 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. 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. The following poems similarly showcase the themes included in Ciaran Carson’s haunting lyric ‘Belfast Confetti’.