Assisi

In this essay I will be discussing the techniques used by Norman MacCaig in his poem Assisi and how they get across the idea of people treat others in certain ways and how this creates sympathy for a beggar sitting in front of a great church.

The poem starts by drawing your attention to the “dwarf” who is described as something that is not human and more puppet like than anything else. By calling him a dwarf it makes it clear he is seen as not normal. You are given a description of the figure, which I feel is meant to disturb you, with the repulsive description. The dwarf is described as having “hands on backwards” and “like a half filled sack”. In the second line the alliteration of the letter ‘s’ gives of a short sharp distaste sound. Also words that start with the letter ‘t’ are used next to each other. “Tiny twisted” which makes a tut sound which is alliterate and harsh sounding.

On the third forth line it begins to describe the juxtaposition of the expensive church where the beggar to highlight the difference. It begins with the word “Outside” to emphasize where he is, as he should be inside the church, not outside. The focus swifts further along the line from the beggar to the church as the poet begins to des

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The dwarf, then the priest and then the tourists. On the third line down we hear the poets speaking as he said he “understood” what the priest was saying. He should be helping the beggar but is not so sympathy is created for the dwarf.

The last two lines are saying how the beggar had no advantages over St Francis. Sympathy is not given to any of the other characters but more and more sympathy for the beggar is created throughout the poem. Another contrast appears as the church was built in honour of St Francis who is described as “brother of the poor”. His voice was seen as so graceful and delicate it was like when a bird “spoke to St Francis”

The poem I as I see it is split up into three main focal points. ” It shows how they pick up on what the priest was saying without thinking and that’s how the priest gets away with what he is doing. ” This shows he is lucky to be alive but had nothing else going for him. Basically the priest doesn’t do his job but pretends to for the sake of the money being made from the tourists.

The third paragraph changes the focus again to the tourists now.

The second paragraph shifts your attention to the priest and him explaining about the magnificent paintings in the church and how they tell the story of god. Then the word “outside” is used again just to emphasize how he is outside of the church being ignore rather that being helped by the priest in the church.

The poem then goes on to describing how deformed and unpleasant to look at the dwarf is.

Approximate Word count = 907
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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