The Poem "Assisi" was written by Norman McCaig.

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    The Poem "Assisi" was written by Norman McCaig, and in it he describes his feeling at seeing a deformed beggar outside a grand metaphorical church. The main issue is man's inhumanity to man. McCaig carefully builds up his poem around this theme by the use of effective metaphors and biblical symbolism. He also uses descriptive language and vital word choice to convey his issue to the reader and by using a beggar as his symbol of poverty he therefore implies that poverty is ugly.

     "Assisi" starts off with a vividly described beggar slumped against a church in Assisi in Italy. A priest is leading a group of rich tourist around the church showing them and explaining to them the magnificence of Giotto's Frescoes

    In the poem, a beggar is sitting slumped beside a grand, ornate and expensive church, whilst a priest is leading a group of tourists around the church. The tourists are taking photographs here and there but they are also fascinated by the beggar and take photographs of him too, however they help him in no way whatsoever. As the priest leads the tourists past some particularly excellent paintings he explains that the paintings were done by Giotto, a famous medieval artist who painted pictures for many churches so that the stories in the bible could be understood by those that could not read.

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    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 ...

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