Comparison Between ‘The Class Game’ & ‘Belfast Confetti’

The Class Game – Mary Casey This Poem is about: Class differences and how they don’t matter Whether people have the right to judge others by their classes How people from lower classes are looked down on How people from different classes are all the same!

Belfast Confetti – Ciaran Carson The riots of 1969 in the main city of Northern Ireland It’s the account of an individual who was caught by the riot police Losing your identity in your own home Dealing with overwhelming panic of riots, bombs and shrapnel

COMPARISON [Structure] The structures of the poems are very different from each other. For Example, The Class Game has a continuous flow through the poem with no stanza breaks. This infers the course of an argument between the poet and the reader, where the poet is questioning the views and opinions of the different classes and the take of the reader on the subject. Belfast Confetti, on the other hand, has one major stanza break which is the point where the poet switches from Past tense into Present tense. The first stanza is about the situation whereas the second is the effort of the poet to get away from it.

COMPARISON [Meaning] There are certain similarities between the meanings of the poems and their aims. The Class Game is about the differences between social classes which the poet questions and renders pointless. The last sentence of the poem “And I’m proud of the class that I come from”, implies that no one should be ashamed of the social class they are born into. Belfast Confetti is about the differences between religious beliefs which often lead to disagreements and riots. The poet pays special attention to the extreme confusion and distress that everyday people are exposed to in riots held in the name of peaceful religions.

COMPARISON [Imagery] The use of Imagery in both the poems differs from each other. In The Class Game, the main use of imagery is to compare the individuals from different classes and their daily routines. For example, “or is it because my hands are stained with toil/instead of soft lily-white with perfume and oil”. This sentence compares the hands of a working class individual [assumed to be the poet] with those of someone from an upper-class background. Belfast Confetti, on the other hand, uses imagery to create a real-life situation of the riots. It intends to use the images to create similar feelings between those stuck in the riots and the reader. In order to achieve this, the poet uses punctuations throughout the poem, for example the first line of the poem which says “Suddenly as the riot squad moved in, it was raining exclamation marks”. This image has a literal meaning which is the rioters throwing shrapnel at he riot police, but the implicit meaning is that of the alarm caused to the people who were unwillingly present at the site, by this sudden change of atmosphere.

COMPARISON [Language] The language used in both the poems is very different. The Class Game uses a lot of dialect and jargon such as the use of the word “me” instead of “my” and the use of “Tara” instead of “Bye Mummy dear”. This is intended to make it obvious from the start that the narrator of the poem is of a lower social class as his language differs greatly from the proper English which would be used by the upper-class individuals. Belfast Confetti, on the other hand, uses perfect English with a large number of metaphors like “it was raining exclamation marks”. The use of metaphors is intended to make the reader uneasy and feel the same panic that the poet was feeling through the riot that he was stuck in.

COMPARISON [Effect] The effect on the reader of both the poems is exactly the same as it makes the people question their views and prejudices. The Class Game uses questions to directly address the reader and their views on the differences between social classes amongst society. Questions like “How can you tell what class I’m from?” and “Why do you care what class I’m from?” make the reader feel the harsh truth of the prejudices amongst society which they may have not been subjected to before. Belfast Confetti uses punctuation marks as a method of structuring the poem but also creating metaphorical imagery based on the real situation. This is very unusual in a poem and will be picked up immediately by the reader. When the poet says “It was raining exclamation marks”, he is referring to the shrapnel being thrown at the police by the rioters, but implicitly he is talking about the alarm and panic running through the crowd and those who do not wish to be a part of it.

COMPARISON [Theme] The theme of both the poems is exactly the same: Clashes and Collisions. For Example: The Class Game is about the clashes between different social classes and how the people from the lower classes are nearly always treated as inferior. The fact that the poet starts the poem by asking “How can you tell what class I’m from?” is evidence of the fact that she has been subjected to class-based prejudice and therefore feels the need to question the aspects of her life which are elements proving her to be of a certain [assumingly lower] social class. Belfast Confetti has the theme of Clashes and Collisions quite explicitly as the actual poem is an account of a riot hat happened in 1969. The clash is taking place between the riot police, the rioters and the bystanders who have been unwillingly pulled into the chaos.