Assisi TQ version Flashcards
What is the situation in the poem: what is happening (2)
- A disabled beggar is sitting outside a church (1)
* He is being ignored by all those around him, even though as Christian’s they should be caring for him (1)
In your own words, explain what the beggar described in lines 1 – 4 looks like. (3)
• He is tiny (1), has mis-shapen hands (1), his legs are too small and lumpy and disfigured. (1)
With reference to the text, explain how the poet tries to create a sympathy in the read for the beggar in lines 1-4. (4)
- “dwarf” – handicapped, small, suggests pity
- “hands on backwards” – useless
- “slumped” – can’t even sit up
- “half-filled sack” misshapen and lumpy, disfigured
- “tiny twisted legs” – small and useless
- “as if sawdust might run” – not even human
- 1 mark for each reference and for each comment
Looks at lines 7-9. What tone do you detect in these lines?(1)
• humour / black humour / irony (1)
Quote the phrase that shows where the beggar is located, and explain the irony of lines 6-7 (in honour of St Francis, brother of the poor) (2)
- “outside the three tiers of churches built in honour of St Francis” (1)
- The saint was “brother to the poor” yet no-one is helping the beggar (1)
How do these lines help you to understand the poet’s own feelings in the poem? (1)
• Successful answers will illustrate that he disapproves (1)
What impression do we get of the priest in lines 10-17. Justify your response with reference to the text. (2)
- Hypocrite / negative impression
- Focused on spreading word of God to “illiterate” whilst ignoring need for charity in front of him
- Sophisticated answers may comment on uselessness of painting “frescoes” to tell stories to those who can’t read – teach to read instead?
“A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly,
fluttered after him as he scattered
the grain of the Word”
- Explain fully the comparison, and what impression you think it gives of the tourists. (3)
- Metaphor compares tourists to chickens (1)
- Suggests unthinking, stupid, accepting whatever they are told (1)
- Tourists are more interested in looking like good Christians than in being good Christians. (1)
MacCaig, in Assisi, is making a statement about the apathy (uncaring or disinterested nature) of society. Quote the phrase from ll 18-27 which you think best sums up this apathy. (1)
• “It was they who had passed the ruined temple outside” (1)
Identify one area of contrast within the poem, and explain what point MacCaig is trying to make
- Dwarf is outside “three tiers of churches” and is himself describe as a “ruined temple”
- He is ugly but his voice is sweet and innocent
- Rich tourists ignore poor beggar
- Caring nature of Christianity contrasted against hypocrisy of organised religion
- (any one contrast, supported with evidence, for two marks)
“the dwarf”
Positioning at the start - immediately identifies the character as being unusually small.
word choice
- used in folk lore to represent a small ugly like creature
“his hands on backwards”
alliteration - draws attention to his deformity
“backwards”
word choice- connotations of being stunted physically and intellectually.
“sat, slumped”
alliteration - emphasis his collapsed position
“slumped”
word choice - meaning unable to sit up . he is drooping, collapsed, also has connotations of depresssion
“half - filled”
word choice- suggest his life is unfulfilled, dissatisfied, incomplete
“tiny twisted legs”
alliteration draws attention to his deformed legs as being small, wraped and useless
“slumped like a half-filled sack.. from which sawdust might run”
simile- comparing the small man to a half finished, inadequate bag - doesn’t have enough substance to sit u. Suggestion that he isn’t human
“A priest explained”
Word choice - use of “A” - indefinite article - gives an imprecise impression that it could be any priest?the church
“the illiterate”
word choice - suggesting that all public were uniformed, uneducated, ignorant.
“goodness of god/”suffering of His Son”
Alliteration - emphasisies the irony that the Church is ignoring the plight of “the dwarf”
“His frescoes tell stories”
word choice/ irony - real life story of “ the dwarf” should be far more compelling.
“A rush” (of tourists)
suggests an urgency/ speed of the tourists not real contemplation of St Francis’s work
“clucking”
metaphor/word choice - comparing tourists to chickens mindlessly following the crowd.
“clucking contentedly”
alliteration - emphasising the tourists merrily chatting instead of focusing on the religious aspect of their visit.
“fluttered”
metaphor/ word choice - extends the image of the tourists as birds. Also suggests their following of the priest is frivolous and light-hearted rather than listening seriously
“he scattered the grain of the Word”
extended metaphor focus must be on the tourists and not the priest. Tourists like chickens taking the Priest’s speech on the bible.
“They”
word choice- makes the tourists seem almost faceless anonymous
“passed”
word choice - taking no notice, ignoring the plight of the dwarf
Commonality
- the temporariness/ insignificance of man
- the relationship between the man and the other species, man and nature
- the randomness of the process of evolution
- the scale of human evolution vs species which have remained unchanged/unevolved
