“ruined temple”
while he is slumped against the wall of
“three tiers of churches”
This is an insightful juxtaposition because it sows how poverty is always right next to great riches which is the social comment the poet is trying to make.
The first description of the dwarf in Stanza 1 uses brutal language to highlight how extreme the poverty is in the area around the church.
The poet uses similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia to make his point with saying such as
“with his hands on backwards”
He compared the dwarf with an old soft toy leaking its stuffing when he said
“like a half filled sack …. from which sawdust might run”
which is very brutal.
“slumped”
is an example of the poet’s use of onomatopoeia to give a fuller description of the events.
One of the alliterations used is
“clucking contentedly”
which the poet uses to create to show how the tourists feel about the attention they are getting.
The poet uses an extended metaphor throughout Stanza 3 where he continues to compare the tourists who are following the priest are compared to hens following the farmer as he
“scattered the grain of the word”
This shows that the real message of Giotto’s Frescoes have been devalued because the tourists have ignored the message of Christ by allowing the beggar to reach his current position. Which I think is terribly hypocritical.
Contrast is a big part in the poem. In Stanza 1 the massive church of St Francis is compared to the slumped body of the dwarf, or as the poet calls it
“the ruined temple”
This shows how great the churches are compared to the impoverished beggar, which helps to make the social comment of the poem. Juxtaposition is used in the comparison with the dwarf and the churches and also en jambement to create a feeling of calm in the readers mind.
The poet makes his point in the poem by using sarcasm and irony. St Francis, who gave away all of his possessions to the poor, is honoured by a massive, expensive cathedral. Also the beggar is lying outside a cathedral dedicated to a saint who was a friend of the poor. The priest is spending time with rich tourists while the beggar was starving outside which is an excellent piece of irony and helps to demonstrate the social comment about religion.
The overall tone of the poem is informative by using alliteration, simile, metaphors and onomatopoeia to make his point of the overall hypocricy of religion and how Christians sometimes ignore the actual message of the bible.
I liked this poem because of the interesting metaphors and use of onomatopoeia to make the point. The message of the poem also comes through clearly showing us that that the author thinks of how badly religion treats the poor.
“Assisi” made a very important social comment in an entertaining way by using all of the techniques above to weave together an valuable and interesting way.
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