A Imagery Flashcards
“Slumped like a half-filled sack”
Simile is used to create a comparison with an inanimate object, suggesting the beggar is not human.
The comparison to a half-filled sack emphasises how awkward and ungainly the beggar is in his appearance and movements
“Tiny twisted legs from which sawdust might run”
Metaphor of “legs from which sawdust might run” again links the beggar to an inanimate object (sawdust is something that was once living but has been ground up into a pulp) and perhaps suggests the priest and tourists’ views that the beggar is worthless and spoiling the picturesque setting
“clucking contentedly, fluttered after him as he scattered the grain of the Word”
Extended metaphor of chicken imagery.
• The tourists are compared to a flock of chickens, stereotypically unintelligent creatures.
• “The grain of the Word” refers to the teachings of God/Jesus, and compares this to chicken feed, which continues the idea of the tourists as mindless.
• “Clucking contentedly” suggests low intelligence and easy satisfaction – they are not concerned with the true teachings of Christianity, but only with the fancy paintings and unimportant ‘tourist’ information.
• This information is “scattered”, which has connotations of carelessness and suggests the priest is equally unconcerned
“Ruined temple”
Metaphor compares the beggar to a building that was once devoted to the worship of God, but has fallen into terrible disrepair.
This suggests that the beggar would, at one time, have been viewed as an equal by the priest and the tourists, but that his disabilities and the hard times he has fallen on have changed this.
This emphasises the hypocrisy of the situation, as the priest lectures the tourists on the teachings of Christianity, while they all ignore someone so clearly in need of their help
“Whose eyes wept pus”
Metaphor compares the discharge from the beggar’s eyes (presumably a result of one of his many physical health issues) to tears.
This gives a disgusting impression of the beggar and suggests that he is unpleasant to look at, presumably from the perspective of the priest and the tourists
“voice as sweet as a child’s when she speaks to her mother or a bird’s when it spoke to St Francis”
• Simile shows that, despite all the horrific deformities of the beggar, he has inner beauty.
• A child would obviously speak to her mother in an affectionate and beautiful voice, which suggests that the voice of the beggar is the only outward sign of this inner beauty. However, it is presumably only heard when he says “Grazie” (thank you) and this implies that to hear/see this inner beauty, the priest or tourists would have to help him.
• The comparison to the voice of a bird talking to St Francis links back to the first stanza (“talker with birds”) and reminds the reader that the building the priest is showing the tourists around was built to honour a man who believed the poor and sick had to be cared for
