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
