In both poems, the poets show that conflict has had major effects on people’s lives. In ‘Belfast Confetti’, Ciaran Carson shows that the protagonist is being affected by the conflict which is a civil war between the protestants and the IRA. Likewise in ‘At the Border’, a group of people have been forced to flee from Kurdistan to Iran because of the effect of the civil war. Both poems emphasises the violence that conflict brings on people’s lives.

‘In Belfast Confetti’, the poet starts the poem with an adverb ‘Suddenly’. This emphasises the idea that the protagonist is in a state of danger. The adverb sets up the rest of the poem in quite a dangerous and suspicious way. The poet in Belfast Confetti uses juxtaposition. He contrasts the two words, Belfast and Confetti. We know Belfast is the city where an religious and political war is taking place. We usually associate the word Confetti with moments of happiness, celebrations and special occasions but in this case, the connotation of Confetti is the nuts, bolts, screws, nails and bombs. The poet starts the poem with the adverb ‘Suddenly’ to try and emphasise the fact that the situation the protagonist finds himself in, is dangerous and life-threatening. Wheras, the title of the ‘At the Border’ tells us that a group of people are set to leave their current surrounding and migrate to Iran because of the impact a civil war has towards an individuals life. The poet uses the year 1979 which tells us that that year was a significant year whether it was the start of the war or the time they forced to leave.

The poet also uses a metaphor to suggest that the riot squad are coming to put an end to the conflict.

Likewise, the poet uses the verb ‘stuttering’ to try and draw attention that the protagonist feels brainwashed as he sees the battle going on around him. We know that the protagonist is struggling to take control over his mental state and his thoughts have been scrambled by seeing blood, dead bodies, sound of gun shots going off and people screaming.