Norman MacCaig Poetry

Our tasks today… To find out who Norman MacCaig is

Step 1: Using the laptops, and in pairs,you are going to

create a short presentation explaining who Norman MacCaig is

Step 2: Sign up to Edmodo (Group code is: mer9us)

Step 3: Post your completed presentation to our

Edmodo page

Your presentation should include…

His name His year of birth/his year of death (if applicable) Where he was born, where he grew up, and where

he lived as an adult His education His family life Any significant events in his life Any awards Anything you can find about his perspective on

life

Themes in Norman MacCaig's Poetry

The importance of observing people, places and things from different perspectives.

Challenging preconceived notions.

Asking questions about life.

What does he write about?

Highland settings and subjects

The poet's travels to Italy

Animals

Sympathy and skepticism

Personal feeling

The Poems– what do you think they are about?

Assisi

Aunt Julia

Visiting Hour

Basking Shark

Sounds of the Day

Memorial

Norman MacCaig interview

ssa.nls.uk/film/2802

Assisi

'Assisi' is a poem designed to shake the reader out of their apathy and start their search for their own clarity.

Poverty Hypocrisy

St Francis of Assisi Patron saint of animals, merchants and ecology

Birth – 1181 in Assisi in Umbria (originally named Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone)

Death – 1226

Italian Catholic friar and preacher

Son of a wealthy silk merchant and thoroughly enjoyed the high life

St Francis of Assisi Went to war and came back to continue

carefree lifestyle Fell ill and had a vision He decided to change his ways and decided to

live in poverty (was criticised for this) Nursed lepers Eventually started preaching far and wide Disowned his father who was angry at him

over his lifestyle. Founder of the Fransciscan Orders who believe

that poverty is the way to imitate the life of Jesus.

Assisi background

Location of Assisi

Assisi Describes a visit to the Basilica of St.

Francis of Assisi

Built in honour of St Francis of Assisi, someone who devoted his life to poverty and the poor

Writer points out the hypocrisy of the Basilica in that it was constructed to celebrate the ideologies of St Francis, but is only recognised for its splendour (meanwhile someone living in poverty is outside being ignored/avoided)

Your Task… Create a presentation that explains one ofthe

following (you will explain it to the class)

Giotto's frescoes Seed reference from Luke 8:5-11 (biblical

reference) Reference to body being a temple from Corinthians

6:19 (biblical reference) Reference to the word of God in John 1:1 (biblical

reference) Story of the beggar and St Francis St Francis as the feeder of birds

Structure

Free verse used to better communicate MacCaig’s experience.

Verse 1 – about the dwarf

Verse 2 – about the priest

Verse 3 – about the tourists and back to the dwarf

Tone

Bitter and cynical

Key Themes

The Church – Hypocrisy

Isolation of the disabled/ill

Inner and outer beauty

Social contrast/injustice

Poetic Techniques

Using the sheet you have been given, go through each technique listed and identify these in your copy of the poem.

Highlight, circle, or underline the technique and label which one it is with an arrow.

This is how you would treat the poems in your exam and will make the next task much easier.

Assisi

The dwarf with his hands on backwards

sat, slumped like a half-filled sack

on tiny twisted legs from which

sawdust might run,

outside the three tiers of churches built

in honour of St Francis, brother

of the poor, talker with birds, over whom

he had the advantage

of not being dead yet.

Assisi

A priest explained

how clever it was of Giotto

to make his frescoes tell stories

that would reveal to the illiterate the goodness

of God and the suffering

of His Son. I understood

the explanation and

the cleverness.

Assisi

A rush of tourists, clucking contentedly,

fluttered after him as he scattered

the grain of the Word. It was they who had passed

the ruined temple outside, whose eyes

wept pus, whose back was higher

than his head, whose lopsided mouth

said Grazie in a voice as sweet

as a child's when she speaks to her mother

or a bird's when it spoke

to St Francis.

Identifying Poetic Techniques in the Poem

Stanza Technique What does it suggest?

one Simile- ‘slumped like a half-filled

sack’

The dwarf’s posture is being compared to a

limp, inanimate object. This dehumanises the dwarf and makes him

appear unnatural.    

   

Look over the poem and see if you can identify any techniques.Break down your findings into the three stanzas. Copy the table below into your jotter. You will need to add more rows.

Some questions on the poem

1. What does the title of the poem suggest to the reader?

2. In stanza 1 our focus is on the dwarf. What type of image is painted of the dwarf and what words or phrases reveal this?

3. Explain the twist/stance at the end of stanza one.

4. Who is the focus on in stanza 2 and what is the purpose of this focus?

5. Explain what the end of stanza 2 suggests to the reader and what tone is being used?

6. There is a change of focus again as we move to stanza 3. Who is the focus on now and what techniques help to explain this focus?

7. What do the words ‘ruined temple’ and ‘eyes wept pus’ suggest about the physical and/or mental state of the dwarf?

8. What does the simile ‘as sweet as a child’s’ suggest to the reader regarding the nature/personality of the dwarf and his voice?

9. The final twist. Explain the complex idea of this stance/twist by referring to word choice and any connotations that may arise.

Essay Question – exam conditions in one lesson

Choose a poem that creates an atmosphere of sadness/pity or loss. Show how the poet creates the atmosphere and what effect it has on your response to the subject matter. You should refer to the text and such relevant features such as; word choice, imagery, tone, content, rhythm and rhyme...