Critical Evaluation-Assisi

The poem is set in Assisi in Italy around the 1970’s were all the rich tourists are coming in hundreds from all different countries far and wide to see the frescoes painted by Giotto in Assisi’s huge cathedral. McCaig mainly focuses on the dwarf outside of the three-tier cathedral built in honour of St. Francis. McCaig then proceeds to the priest guiding the tourists around the cathedral telling them the history of Giotto’s frescoes and how they individually teach people the goodness of God and the suffering of his son. McCaig uses effective littery techniques to describe the tourists and to describe the dwarf. He then goes on to explain that the tourists are not studying the frescoes and are just there to boast about being there. Then

. . .
Francis, brother of the

poor, talker with birds, over whom

he had the advantage of not

being dead yet. McCaig says this because the dwarf has been living around the huge cathedral for many years and is now wearing away. McCaig goes on to give more details of the dwarfs appearance:

“whose eyes,

wept pus, whose back was higher

than his head, whose lopsided mouth”

All of these properties of the dwarf are very brutal, McCaig says this to make the reader feel pity for the dwarf but surprisingly McCaig goes on to tell how the dwarf had a voice as sweet as a child’s:

“Said Grazie in a voice as sweet

as a child’s when she speaks to her mother. Francis into the poemby comparing one of the bird’s voice when it spoke to St. In stanza 1 he uses alliteration, simile and metaphor to give the reader a graphic view of the dwarfs deformed body:

“The dwarf with his hands on backwards

sat, slumped like a half-filled sack

on tiny twisted legs from which

sawdust might run.

McCaig uses juxtaposition by situating the dwarf outside of the huge three tier cathedral. I think that it was a good idea to situate the dwarf outside the huge cathedral and create the image of a great, strong, beautifully designed building standing over a small, weak, deformed person. Francis to the little deformed dwarf. ” This tells me that the dwarf had no strength to keep himself up straight and every time he sat down his back got closer to the ground. McCaig then goes on to use sarcasm when he compares the dwarf to St. I looked at such ideas as effective figures of speech, choice of words, important images, irony…….

In stanza 3 McCaig called the dwarf “a ruined temple. I think that McCaig has made a very clear image of the tourists and that he makes very good use of the metaphor by extending it.

Common topics in this essay:
St Francis, Francis McCaig, Norman McCaig, Grazie McCaig, Christ McCaig, Giotto Assisis, Assisi Italy, st francis, Francis Outside, Critical Evaluation-Assisi, mccaig reader, littery techniques, stanza 3, sawdust run, built honour st, voice sweet, tiny twisted, huge cathedral, giottos frescoes, rich tourists, voice sweet childs, honour st francis, legs sawdust run, dwarf ruined temple,

Approximate Word count = 1287
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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