Compare how poets present the effects of conflict in ‘Belfast Confetti’ and one other poem from Conflict. “Belfast Confetti” and “Yellow Palm” “Belfast Confetti” and “Yellow Palm” are both major set around the imagery language used, and the effects of the devastation happening to the communities. Both poems are similarly themed; “Belfast Confetti” depicts the aftermath of a bomb during the troubles that people In Belfast experienced.
The poem “Yellow Palm” follows a similar theme, portraying the problems which are present in Baghdad. Looking at the different structures and forms used in both poems, they contrast the preference between one speaker being confused, and not knowing what’s happening, to a very loosely structured ballad. Within the poem “Belfast Confetti”, Curran Carson does not present any type of meter or rhythm, by doing this he created a sense of the poem being seen and read with confusion, Like the people felt after the bomb was detonated.
An example of this can be seen In the quotation “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… ” The quote expresses the poet’s usage of enjambment and incompletion of sentences creating an effect of confusion and chaos to the reader. On the other hand “Yellow Palm” uses repetition and rhyming to create an atmosphere of the speaker walking down the street, and pointing out the things that he sees and hears.
By using the ballad scheme the lively rhymes contrast to the context of the poem, with iambic lines alternating between long and short. Seen in the quote :”As I made my way down Palestine Street, I heard the call to prayer ,and I stopped at the door of the golden mosque, to watch the faithful there, UT there was blood on the walls and the muezzin’s eyes, were wild with his despair” With this the poet is able to represent the effects on the community and lives around him presenting to the reader the damage caused to society by war.
The poem “Belfast Confetti” brings together a public event and a personal response to show the effects of conflict on an individual: an explosion in Belfast with armed forces and the speakers own response as the bombs explosions interrupts his thoughts. These two aspects of the poem are united together through extended metaphors of punctuation throughout the poem. The quote “It was raining exclamation marks” shows not only the chaos and destruction around the speaker but captures the atmosphere, as exclamation marks are usually used when someone Is upset or angry.
This portrays the image of destruction and innocence being destroyed to the reader. Within “Yellow Palm” although metaphors are used they are not used to portray the panic and disruption the same as in “Belfast Confetti”. Instead they help to contrast against the beauty and innocence of the scenery around the speaker. The quote “l saw a Cruise missile, a slow and silver caravan on its slow and silver mile, and a beggar hill turned up his face and blessed It with a smile. ” The poet Juxtaposes the Image views by observing, and leaving the reader to make their own connections between moral and political ideas.
Another point made was the uses of imagery throughout each of the poem. Within both poems the poets uses images around him and creates a portrayal of negativity and destruction. Within the mellow Palm” the poet contrasts positive six positive vignettes of life in the city which accumulate to show the slow destruction of the city. This compares to “Belfast Confetti” in which the poet uses the extraction and chaotic to portray the effect of the bomb on the community. The poet Curran Carson uses the names of streets and roads in lines 11-13 working on both a literal and metaphorical level.
The street names are named after generals and battles and places from the Crimea war. The quotation “Balaclava, Raglan, Merman, Odessa Street – Why can’t I escape? Every move is punctuated. Crimea Street. Dead end again. ” By doing this the poet likens the riot happening during the bombing to battles that the community has fought in bigger wars. Showing the effects of how such the country and city has been through, and to illustrate the speakers paranoia and alienation in a place he doesn’t know.
On The other hand we have the contrast in images of life throughout the poem mellow Palm”. The poet Robert Nicknaming uses powerful images of religions and traditional images at the start of each verse and the negative image portrayed showing the effect of conflict. An example of this can be seen in the quote: “l heard the call to prayer and I stopped at the door of the golden mosque to watch the faithful there but there was blood on the walls and the muezzin’s eyes were wild with his despair.
Within this quote we have the positive image of prayers and golden mosques showing hope and belief met by the blood on the walls, whether metaphorically or literal, showing the destruction and chaos caused by recent history changing the society for the worse. To conclude although there are similarities in the way in which both poets present conflict, they both also use complete opposite techniques to illustrate the chaos and destruction caused my conflict. With Curran using language and punctuation itself to create images and portray conflict, contrasting to the usage of negative and positive imagery and oxymoron throughout.
