‘moon%on%the%tides’%anthology ... - weebly
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‘Moon on the Tides’ Anthology
Lesson Objec7ves: • To iden7fy the key aspects of structure and
form used to convey meaning
‘Belfast ConfeC’ by Ciaran Carson
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What is ‘confeC’? • Confe& is a mul.tude of pieces of paper or metallic material which is usually thrown at parades and celebra.ons, especially weddings (and game shows, following the end of a milestone or the occasion of a big win).
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Belfast • Capital city of Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, since 1921.
• In the 1970s, Belfast saw the worst of what were known as ‘The Troubles’, which lasted into the 1990s
• In 1972, the Provisional IRA aOacked Belfast with 22 homemade bombs.
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About the poet … • Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast in 1948
• He graduated from Queen's University, Belfast, and s.ll lives there.
• His first language is Irish and he says that ‘I write in English, but the ghost of Irish hovers behind it; and English itself is full of ghostly presences’.
• His name is in many ways symbolic of his Irish iden.ty – Ciaran is a Catholic name, whereas Carson is Protestant.
• Apparently one of his ancestors enthusias.cally converted to Protestan.sm.
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The Troubles
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Suddenly as the riot squad moved in it was raining exclama.on
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
stuOering,
All the alleyways and side streets blocked with stops and
colons.
Belfast ConfeC
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I know this labyrinth so well – Balaklava, 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 ques.on-‐marks.
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Test yourself 1. List all of the references to weapons and ammuni.on in the poem. 2. What is ironic about the term ‘Belfast confe&’? Think about the
occasions confe& is usually associated with and what is actually happening in the poem.
3. To get into this poem, imagine a writer in the baOle area trying to write. He uses punctua.on marks as metaphors for events and feelings that occur. a) Why are objects in line 2 ‘exclama.on marks’? What feelings
are exclama.on marks used to show? b) Why is the explosion ‘like an asterisk on a map’? c) Why is the burst of rapid fire like ‘a hyphenated line’? Think
about how you would draw/write about gunfire. d) Why do you think the sentence ‘kept stuOering’? Think of two
possible and plausible reasons.
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Metaphors in the poem
“stops and colons”
Road blocks and police cordons
(barriers and barricades)
“raining exclama7on
marks”
The contents of the nail bomb are
being spread far and wide.
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