The poet arouses our sympathy and creates a sense of pathos towards the beggar in several ways. Firstly, he describes the beggar as a "dwarf" which indicates he is vulnerable as well as being physically short, also the beggar is portrayed as a bag.
The poem itself is simplistic. He does this through his description and in the poem he describes a rejection made towards the beggar from society to put across his point. Also, the reader is aware, throughout the poem, of McCaig's suppressed anger. He is angry that such suffering should have to exist in our world, and that our institutions, in particular the Church, should be failing to make things better. The poem centres on the beggar who has been isolated from the rest of society ironically outside the church of Saint Francis, patron saint of the poor.
The poet focuses on the extreme ugliness and monstrous deformity of the beggar. He is described as a dwarf with "hands on backwards", who is "slumped like a half-filled sack" on his "tiny twisted" legs. "Slumped" is an example of the poet's use of onomatopoeia to give a fuller description of the events. This strong descriptive language instantly creates a vivid picture of the beggar and it immediately captures the reader's interest and imagination. The reader becomes quickly aware of McCaig's feelings about this beggar and his situation.
The poet cleverly highlights the dilemma of the beggar by contrasting the physical appearance of the dwarf with that of the Church. This contrast shows that the Church, especially the priests, is showing an uncaring attitude to help their fellow man. In stanza three, the beggar is said to be a "ruined temple" and the Church is very different, it has "three tiers". This contrast makes the reader extremely aware of the irony of the situation. The beggar is being rejected and ignored by the Church and Saint Francis, himself, would be very disappointed that our modern Churches are failing to fully represent the true spirit of his church. The irony of the situation is that the beggar is sitting outside this particular church, built in honour of the patron saint of the poor, Saint Francis and yet the deliverers of the Good News are still rejecting the dwarf.
While he is slumped against the wall of "Three tiers of churches" This is an insightful juxtaposition because it shows how poverty is always right next to great riches which is the social comment the poet is trying to make. There are several uses of contrast in the poem. The dwarf is called” Ruined temple" At one point in the poem. This shows that everyone pays no attention to him because he is not attractive and he doesn’t appeal to them. This shows how great the churches are compared to the underprivileged 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 enjambment to create a feeling of calmness to the readers mind.
The 'rush of tourists' describes the noise of tourists as they rush back and forth. 'Clucking' would probably be describing the noise made by cameras and 'scattered the grain of the word' describes the priest giving information as if he was god or a bible. This frantic scene makes the beggar seem even more vulnerable and gives the impression that the priest and the tourists are uncaring and apathetic.
In the final few lines of then poem, the poet reveals a completely different picture of the dwarf from an ugly, deformed human being. The poet observes that when the beggar says "Gratzie", his voice is as sweet
‘As a child's when she spoke to her mother,’
McCaig thus exposes the inner beauty of the beggar, which is normally masked by his own outer ugliness and deformity. But we are only aware of his inner sweetness when the beggar says "thank you" and he only says that when someone is kind to him.
I feel Norman McCaig very successfully arouses our sympathy towards the beggar and our disgust at the church, using a wide variety of techniques ranging from onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors, dehumanization, juxtaposition, irony and very graphic descriptions of the beggar. It also tells us not to judge people on looks alone. In my opinion Norman McCaig has been very successful at carrying his messages through.