Both poems revolve around Civil War where ‘At the Border, 1979’ its events conspired by Iraq and ‘Belfast Confetti’ was between Irish natives. All wars are tragic but civil wars are very difficult for civilians as at any costs your family can turn against you and fight against you for what they believe is right for the future of the country. Contrasting to this Ireland was caught in two minds. Having gained independence from the great empire of Britain a minority still wanted to be controlled by the power of the British. These people tended to be the ones who followed the ‘Protestant’ way of Christianity with was formed by Henry VIII in rebellion to the pope. This sparked political feuds as Catholics had their freedom compromised as the British gave land to the Protestants now known as Northern Ireland. Catholics had their work cut out and were not getting pushed over once again by Britain so they sparked war for what they believe was right and fair. A once peaceful atmosphere was transformed into a place of hatred and despair as streets were active with acts of violence. Whereas in the other poem it’s a moment of relief as civilians are travelling to their native country after the war. The differences have been put aside between both the differing political ideologies and peace is found. Families can reunite together, people can restart bonding with one another without fearing the worst, the country to develop further to prevent disapprovals.

Within Belfast every stanza has punctuation in place as metaphors to present the tension of the war. The different punctuations have different meanings on different aspects on the war. ‘Blocked with stops and colons’ is meaningful to the fact that the war has enclosed and trapped civilians from fleeing anywhere. They’re trapped in the violence almost like enslaved to their own death. This suggests why Carson uses the different of punctuations as the subject of the various metaphors as it allows the reader to understand how manipulative and powerful conflict is to people’s minds and how difficult it is to maintain stability mentally with all the events that occur. When we turn to ‘At the Border’ the people have freedom and peace as now the civil war in Kurdistan has came to a close. Knowing there’s peace around excludes the fear natives had and the disharmony between the people and the government. ‘A man bent down and kissed his muddy homeland’ indicates the same element of strong emotions portrayed by the natives. It proves the relief people feel when conflict is at an end. It shows the joy of being back into familiar territory which you call ‘home’. It’s almost like a source of redemption as natives are retrieving their beloved land to their grasp away from the scandalous people who took no regard of how their actions can destroy and malfunction a country. The end of conflict enforces the message across that there is hope for a dismantled nation.

Both poems are written from the perspective of the protagonist (first person). However the emotions of each of them in contrasting to one another. The mood is totally different in the poems, which differentiates the tone and the tempo the poems.