Belfast Confetti

Suddenly as the riot squad moved in, it was raining exclamation 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 stuttering,
All the alleyways and side-streets blocked with stops and colons.

I know this labyrinth so well – Balaclava, 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 question-marks.

Conflict Poetry: Identifying Writer’s Ideas and Analysing Language for Effect

Task: Read carefully the poem you have been given from the Conflict cluster. Once you have read and considered the poem:

Create 10 developed statements. Each statement must contain a ‘starter’ phrase, ‘main course’ phrase and a ‘dessert’ phrase.

Starter: An idea present in the poem is that… One of the main ideas evident… Another message contained within the poem is…

Main Course: The writer uses… A technique deployed by the writer is… The use of…

Dessert: This suggests… Another interpretation of this could be… It could also be interpreted… The effect of this is… In additional, it could also suggest…

Due: Tuesday 3rd November

Help: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetryconflict/belfastconfetti1.shtml

Key quotes

“I’ve beaten the hell outta him, and he coulda bust every bone in my body jus’ with his han’s” and “If I tol’ him to walk over a cliff, over he’d go. That wasn’t so damn much fun after a while”

“Never seem to give a damn about nobody”

“he jus’ wanted to touch that red dress” / “Strong as a bull” / “Girl in a red dress” References to Lennie.

“you know what I can do to you if you open your trap” (Curley’s wife to Crooks)

“little stocky man” and “he wore high heeled boots and spurs to prove that he was not a laboring man” Description of the boss

“prince of the ranch” and “like the others he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket” Description of Slim

“i never see one guy take so much trouble for another guy”

Repetition of “old”

“small, square windows” and “solid door with wooden latch” Description of the bunkhouse.

“he was the best damn sheep dog I ever seen” Candy’s dog

“hide in the brush” Foreshadowing Lennie’s actions.

“a little shed that leaned off the wall of the barn” Crooks’ room