Assisi Annotations

Question 1

dwarf

Answer 1

Character is defined by his outward appearance - dehumanised

Question 2

Sat, Slumped like a half-filled Sack

On Tiny Twisted legs

Answer 2

Sibilance – adds to image of vulnerability

Alliteration – continues imagery of deformity

Question 3

like a half-filled sack

Answer 3

Simile – he cannot support himself. Weak, vulnerable. ‘half filled’ – unloved, unvalued

Question 4

Sawdust

Answer 4

Metaphor – continues sack like imagery, or a toy from which the stuffing is leaking

Question 5

Outside

Answer 5

Setting, also metaphor – the beggar outside of society, excluded, ostracised

Question 6

three tiers of churches

Answer 6

Image of fancy wedding cakes – ornate building, contrasted with St Francis’ simple philosophy

Question 7

Brother of the poor

Answer 7

He shunned a life of privilege to live with (and like) the poor – contrast with ornate church, work choice ‘bother’, equal to

Question 8

talker with birds

Answer 8

Patron saint of animals

Question 9

He had the advantage

Answer 9

Bitter cynical, ironic. Simply being alive is not an advantage

Question 10

Of not being dead yet

Answer 10

Word choice – implies the beggar isn’t far from death himself

Question 11

Giotto

Answer 11

In 1290, illiteracy was common, opportunities for education were rare. Religious paintings played an important part in faith

Question 12

illiterate the goodness

Answer 12

Word choice – disdainful, assigns blame. Emphasises the priests own sense of his superiority

Goodness - Alliteration – draws attention to the message of the church

Question 13

explanation and

the cleverness

Answer 13

Anger, disdain – the poet understands that the priest’s explanation is meant to show off his own cleverness, and see the hypocrisy. The priest sees the suffering of Jesus in the frescoes, but is blind to the suffering of the beggar outside his own church.

Question 14

rush of tourists

Answer 14

Not individual – a flock, a faceless crowd, blindly following

Question 15

Clucking Contentedly fluttered

Answer 15

Alliteration & onomatopoeia – recalls the sound of clucking hens

Word choice – they are at ease with the predicament of the disabled beggar, superficially impressed by the frescoes.

Metaphor – an unflattering comparison of the tourists to chickens – naïve, silly, do not question the priest

Question 16

scattered the grain

Answer 16

Allusion to the parable of the sower – the priest knows the word of god but does not live it

Question 17

ruined temple

Answer 17

Metaphor – ‘temple’ – the spirit of god lives in the beggar; ‘ruined’ – highlighting his physical disabilities, contrasted with the ornate church he sits outside (both physically and metaphorically)

Question 18

eyes wept pus

Answer 18

Biblical allusion – reference to “Jesus wept” – shortest verse in the bible, before J raised Lazarus from the dead. He wept for humanity & their suffering; and that his followers

Question 19

back was higher

than his head

Answer 19

Word choice - again contrasting the church and the beggar. Creating a grotesque image of the beggar.

Question 20

lopsided mouth

Answer 20

Word choice - again contrasting the church and the beggar. Creating a grotesque image of the beggar.

Question 21

said Grazie

Answer 21

Italian, ‘thank you’

Question 22

as sweet as a child’s

Answer 22

Word choice – surprising, given the grotesque description of the beggar

Simile – just as a child is innocent and vulnerable, so too the beggar needs care and protection. Prompts sympathy.

Question 23

St Francis

Answer 23

Return to moral ideology of St Francis – highlights theme, hypocrisy of the church

Question 24

hands on backwards

Answer 24

Metaphor/ hyperbole - emphasises the beggar’s deformities

Question 25

explained how clever it was

Answer 25

Word choice – shows priest to be boastful, implies he thinks he himself is clever – he understands Giotto and can explain it to others.