‘Belfast Confetti’ Aims: To understand the significance of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. To explore and develop personal responses to ‘Belfast Confetti.

Background: What was ‘The Troubles’? ‘The Troubles’ was a period of conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. It is generally agreed to lasted from the late 1960s until 1998, when the “Good Friday” Agreement was signed. Nevertheless, violence still continues on a sporadic basis. The main issues in the Troubles were the status of Northern Ireland and the relationship between the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland. The Troubles had both political and military dimensions. Its participants included politicians and political activists on both sides, and the British and Irish armies.

Background: What caused ‘The Troubles’? Britain ruled Ireland, both politically and religiously. Ireland was split down religious lines: the lower classes were Catholic Irish and the upper classes were Protestant English. The Irish state was created in 1920 and was split into the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. A referendum was held on the future of Northern Ireland to decide whether it would join the Irish Republic or stay with the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland (which is overwhelmingly Protestant) voted to stay with the UK. The remaining Catholics wanted to be part of the Irish Republic and didn’t want any British control on any part of Ireland.

Examples of Irish Republican Army (IRA) posters:

Examples of murals in Northern Ireland:

Examples IRA attacks:

London, 1993

Manchester, 1996

Omagh, 1998

TASK: The words below have been taken from a poem you will be studying. Create as many categories as you need to sort these words into groups. Sort the words into different groups: You can label the groups as you wish, eg colour or movement words. You can put a word into more than one category if you wish.

alleyways asterisk balaclava Belfast blocked bolts broken burst car-keys colons complete confetti Crimea dead end escape exclamation explosion face-shields fire fount fusillade head hyphenated Inkerman kept know Kremlin-2 labyrinth line makrolon map marks mesh move nails name nuts Odessa punctuated question-marks raglan raining rapid riot Saracen sentence side squad stops streets stuttering suddenly type walkietalkies well

Language in the poem The Inkerman memorial to the Crimean war. A raglan Balaclava-street names celebrating battles in Crimean war

Language in the poem The Kremlin, in Russia A saracen Makrolon face-shield

Language in the poem A fusillade is a collection of weapons all firing at once on a target.

Hear the poet saying the poem: http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=339

LO: To explore and analyse the poem Title: Annotate ‘Belfast Confetti’

STARTER Jot down three things you learnt last lesson in bullet points. Now we will read the poem.

! ! ! ! * ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! See if students recognise all the punctuation marks. Are they accurate in representing what they are meant to represent? ??? ??? - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -- : .: . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . :

Read, discuss and annotate poem… Protest was supposed to be peaceful but ended up a bloody riot. Note down some ideas on how punctuation shows conflict. What impact do the indented lines have when read by themselves? EXT: Can you identify the different tones and emotions in the poem? At what points is there a change in tone and emotion?

HOMEWORK: Complete this PEE POINT: The consequences of war are presented in Ciaran Carson’s ‘Belfast Confetti’. Evidence: “ Where am I coming from? Where am I going?” Explanation: What do the questions tell us about the effect of war on the speaker? What is the tone of the speaker? What is this poem saying about war (meaning?)