Assisi - Norman McCaig

Transcription

1 Assisi - Norman McCaig The dehumanising of the beggar is tragic - Makes Dwarf seem more like an object than human; grotesque. The dwarf with his hands on backwards sat, slumped like a half-filled sack on tiny twisted legs from which sawdust might run, outside the three tiers of churches built in honour of St Francis, brother of the poor, talker with birds, over whom he had the advantage of not being dead yet. Tourists follow priest, rather than St Francis Long and complex first sentence, contrasted with short compound sentence. Tourist s interest in what the Priest is saying distracts them from his teachings, which are sat right in front of them; Tourists are portrayed strongly as brainless chickens here. A priest explained how clever it was of Giotto to make his frescoes tell stories that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness of God and the suffering of His Son. I understood the explanation and the cleverness. A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly, fluttered after him as he scattered the grain of the Word. It was they who had passed the ruined temple outside, whose eyes wept pus, whose back was higher than his head, whose lopsided mouth said Grazie in a voice as sweet as a child's when she speaks to her mother or a bird's when it spoke to St Francis. Beautiful frescoes (painting on a wall or ceiling done by rapidly brushing watercolours onto fresh damp or partly dry plaster) = unattractive suffering. *ILLITERATE NOT NECESSARILY THE ONES WHO NEED THIS MESSAGE*

2 Key The dwarf with his hands on backwards - Pathos - Pathetic - Deformed - Beggar Sibilance sat, slumped like a half-filled sack- simile Slumped Suggests Dwarf has given up on life and is bored of begging. Gives a sense of helplessness. half-filled sack inanimate object; suggest Dwarf is not like human tiny twisted legs - incomplete - half formed - Ineffectiveness of his legs emphasised from which/ sawdust might run extended metaphor sawdust sawdust = off cuts - left-overs - no one cares about it - malformed outside the three tiers of churches built - Juxtaposition - Dwarf juxtaposes tall, grand, magnificent church - Incongruous (looks out of place) - Church is being built in honour of St Francis who represented simplicity - The Church s magnificence = inappropriate he had the advantage of not being dead yet - dark humour - Masks the point that the beggar is not yet dead and that life is temporary. - Transient nature of life. - Soul advantage that he has he is still alive. Not a real advantage - If he dies he will be completely forgotten about - Therefore not an advantage underlines the fact that it s a disadvantage - St Francis = ongoing immortality

3 - Juxtaposes with moral life of Dwarf. yet enjambment (the continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line of poetry to the next) places word at the end of verse. A priest explained seen also by his role. Now two clear categories created Beggar and Priest. explained didactic role (the priest s message is being dictated I know this, you don t, attitude.) clever - works of art - if it reveals goodness so effectively, needs no explanation? - Don t need priest to explain does job itself. Stories - usually fictional - In the past? - Emphasises distance between speaker and message to the illiterate 1. Sense of hierarchy patronizing literal is illiterate 2. Illiterate viewed as a homogeneous group 3. sense of needing help the weaker/poorer; without seeing real need concept of understanding religion in an abstract manner, instead of actually acting on these principles. They understand the need to help but don t do it! Hypocrisy! the goodness/of God suffering/of His Son line breaks delay idea of WHO is good, and suffering: sense of anticlimax low-level irony idea that there s a slight sarcastic pause, therefore emphasis on God and Son. Implication: a) goodness and suffering is present here too b) religion doing nothing to address this c) priest more interested in Giotto than being genuinely Christian (don t stretch this point too far) suffering/of His Son- idea that it s important to recognise suffering, yet when presented with suffering, cannot see it. suffering is obvious yet without context and explanation, tourists are blind to it. I understood full stop creates a CAESURA (pause). Pause created in the middle of a line. explanation and/the cleverness line breaks emphasise the uninteresting/not challenging nature of what s being conveyed. childish, mocking tone - mocking the priest - irony rush- homogeneous group, moving quickly tourists role based identification Anonymous clucking contentedly tourists compared to chickens symbolic of man s inhumanity - mindless activity bird brain brainless/small intellect

4 Alliteration connotations of inane clucking contentedly - happy/self satisfied - Unconcerned with state of the beggar, focused on their own satisfaction - Uninterested in actually SEEING what is going on. fluttered - moving without purpose - allowing themselves to be led by the priest without necessarily thinking about what they are doing him 1. Christ 2. Beggar should be but isn t because tourists are institutionally blind! 3. Priest scattered - extended metaphor - Intellectually feeding the minds of the tourists - Throwing carelessly no responsibility for where it lands - Priest saying words but they are basically meaningless because he doesn t really care Ignoring beggar completely meanwhile - Ironically juxtaposes St Francis who genuinely does care where Priest does not care. he scattered/the grain of the Word Priest like farmer feeding Chickens (tourists) Like the grain which chickens eat greedy and hungry for more grain ie, want more of the priest s teachings instead of noticing the needs of the beggar who is sat right next to them. It was they inverted sentence they separates poet from the tourists indicates poet s attitude to the beggar is different than tourists. portrays tourists as brainless. passed tourists completely ignoring beggar the ruined temple - depicting beggar as useless or physically ruined - conveying the selfishness of society as they care more about the suffering of Christ preaching about it than they care about the suffering of the beggar. whose eyes/wept pus suggests ugliness of Dwarf perhaps ugly on the inside? eyes are the windows of the soul whose back was higher/than his head perhaps making fun of Dwarf his only purpose to be made fun of. said Grazie in a voice as sweet - beauty comes from unexpected source - In many ways, he is a better representation of the church than the priest or the church, built in his honour. - Beggar better representative of St Francis than the priest. - Anticlimax

5 - Despite all horrific deformities, there is beauty inside. Events Disabled beggar outside a church Being ignored by all around him, especially tourists most likely, Christians should be more charitable surprising, as he is sitting outside a church Church of St Francis BROTHER TO POOR Francis emphasised simplicity and poverty Themes Isolation of disabled Social injustice Hypocrisy of the church Social injustice Fate s injustice Related to story of the Good Samaritan Appearance and Reality Façades Atmosphere Sad, contemplative Slow pace Narrative account of an every day event This guy s everyday life, being ignored, instead of being praised and recognised for his genuine goodness. Language Every day speech builds towards whole tragedy of this poem. Underwhelming language, making an overwhelming, poignant point. Blunt, graphic language. Contrasts

6 Deformed beggar and elaborate church *juxtaposition* Emphasised ugliness of beggar, makes him seem more grotesque. Actions of St Francis and a) church created b) religion in modern world. - Teachings have not been followed - Dwarf perceived as freak and isolated from society and charity What the priest preaches and what he practices scattered the grain of the Word, but did not eat it? - Misses love thy neighbor. Appearance and reality of dwarf = sweet voice = internal goodness in some way good, despite the prejudice which is placed on him appears hideous, internally nice - redeeming quality