A poem which has genuinely shocked me is `Assisi' by Norman MacCaig. It deals with a beggar in desperate need of help but does not receive any. MacCaig gets his point across through his different ideas and devices.
The opening verse states what is physically wrong with the beggar. `sat, slumped like a half filled sack' This simile is used to create the image that he is deformed and floppy. The poet's use of 'on tiny twisted legs' gives the impression that the beggar is childlike and very innocent but also in pain.
Later in this verse we hear that the `dwarf' is outside the church which was built, to honour St Frances, who helped the poor. This is ironic as the beggar, who looks strange and unfamiliar is sitting outside a truly amazing and extremely beautiful building. The technique Norman MacCaig uses in this verse is juxta position because it is unexpected that the beggar would be begging outside the church of St Frances as opposed to on the streets. At the end of this verse the poet says the only advantage the beggar has over St Frances is that he is still alive, but to me this isn't at all a great deal because its not as if his life is very enjoyable or happy.
Further on in the poem the poet shows how gullible tourists are, they believe every word being said to them. As the priest is educating them on how the work of Giotto helps explain to the less educated what god is about and how they should help the less fortunate but we see that this is not the case. At this point the poet see's the truth `I understood the explanation'. Although he is just being sarcastic, what he really means is that he understands that the church only pretends to help the poor to make money. They go on about how they help them yet the beggar in need of help is sitting outside the church as he is not allowed too go in, this shocks and appals me as he is receiving know help at all.
MacCaig uses an extended metaphor at the start of the final verse to show how the tourists grasp every word the priest has got to say `fluttered after him as he scattered the grain of the word. 'It was they who passed the `ruined temple' and at this point the writer uses an accusing tone to get the point across that they give no thought to the real sufferer outside the church.
A poem which evokes a mood of pity in the reader is “Assisi” by Norman MacCaig. In this poem, MacCaig recounts an experience that shaped his own life while visiting the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Assisi, Italy. While the church is known for it’s outstanding beauty and priceless artwork, the poet discovers a beggar with severe physical disabilities begging outside the church. MacCaig then exposes the irony of the church constructed to celebrate a man devoted to poor, is now a symbol of hypocrisy. Instead of being a lasting monument to the original and noble philosophies of St Francis. Norman MacCaig evinces pity within us by effectively applying techniques such as vivid imagery, emotive word choice and contrast.
Building off of the ideas expressed in the first stanza, Matthews’ use of this extended metaphor allows him to depict a bleak and doleful society to the reader. By incorporating such pessimism and desperation into his tone, he can create for the reader a direct scene into how he perceives society. Using this portrayal, the reader can then acknowledge the message that Matthews attempts to convey and begin to understand his purpose for this piece and its moral. Matthew’s use of imagery enables him to build upon his ideas and to leave an indelible mark on the reader, but without this rhetorical strategy, one would become oblivious to the several connections he makes to his overall message. Moreover, Matthews includes imagery not only to connect with the reader but to make correlations to society as a whole. One can identify such an example in the seventh stanza when Matthews states, “All the little ants are marching / They all do it the same way” (Matthews). Upon analysis of this quote, the reader can identify how Matthews depicts society while using the rhetorical strategy of imagery. In this scene, he interprets people as ants, marching all in line, not one different from the group which the reader can then denote them as being similar,
“Maybe it was / because the only time / I hit a baseball / it smashed the neon cross / on the church across / the street” (1-6). The readers are clearly presented with a scene of a boy playing baseball and accidentally breaking a church cross. The boy then explores and toys with the possible divine consequences for accidentally breaking a cross with a baseball. “Maybe it was the demon-stoked / rotisseries of purgatory / where we would roast / hundreds of years / for the smallest of sins” (11-15). Here the poet effectively uses imagery to show the reader how a child’s imagination may perceive hell. This may also show the impressionability of the Church on a freethinking child and how the combination can be profound on a young boy with internal conflicts. This can also apply to children’s fantasies and their carefree attitudes which allows them to blend what mindsets they were forced into with that of their
The imagery in this passage helps turn the tone of the poem from victimization to anger. In addition to fire images, the overall language is completely stripped down to bare ugliness. In previous lines, the sordidness has been intermixed with cheerful euphemisms: the agonizing work is an "exquisite dance" (24); the trembling hands are "white gulls" (22); the cough is "gay" (25). But in these later lines, all aesthetically pleasing terms vanish, leaving "sweet and …blood" (85), "naked… [and]…bony children" (89), and a "skeleton body" (95).
Every poem constructs a perception for every reader and most readers will have a different outcome from one another. In How To Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes, the author adds many hidden messages and symbols in the poems for the readers to uncover, and in many times it tends to be difficult. It takes a lot of examination to reveal what the speaker or author is trying to assert. Hayes’ uses many social and historical references such as racism into his poems to depict the anger within the speaker. One of the many themes that prevail in many of his poems is a sense of being trapped such as the poem, “Like Mercy”. The message that Haye’s is trying to portray in the poem is, of a priest serving God, but not agreeing with God at times causing him to
middle of paper ... ... This is significant as when reading this poem you notice this rhyming scheme and take more time to stop and ponder over the significance of the language it is based around and what connotations that word has: “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” and “Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs”. This is one of the most effective rhyming schemes in the poem. Due to every second line rhyming this makes you remember what the poet was trying to put across in the previous lines as all the different lines have a way of tying in with one another.
During this few days, the class focused on two poems Strange Fruit and Primping in the Rearview Mirror. Both poems had interesting stories and meaningful messages behind them. I particular liked reading Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol. Even though the poem was heavy as it describes the horrendous lynching of black men in the South during the 1940s. I think the poem, both when it was originally written and now, allows it readers to truly think about the serious role that racism had in the American society.
There are a couple of similes the author uses in the poem to stress the helplessness she felt in childhood. In the lines, “The tears/ running down like mud” (11,12), the reader may notice the words sliding down the page in lines 12-14 like mud and tears that flowed in childhood days. The speaker compares a...
The passage of the simile is the first verse paragraph following several prose paragraphs. The structure of the verse is loose in following rhythmic or syllabic patterns. Although the form does not have any specific significance to the content, perhaps it is written in verse to sound somewhat poetic. Because the scene is very descriptive and dramatic, it is fitting to write it in a poem-like structure rather than simple prose.
The poem begins with the speaker comparing her body as being like a persimmons tree, displaying off the double meaning of the word "limbs"(1). The speaker lateral limbs (1) arms and
The opening lines of the poem are more shocking than the grimness of the detail because they illustrate the bleak mood of the hero. He is distrustful "My first thought was, he lied in every word" and bitter: "That hoary cripple, with malicious eye". His despair and paranoia become evident in the inconsistency of his thought: if the man was lying about where to find
The poem I have chosen to focus on is “I was Born into a World” by James Franco. This poem focuses on how humans have successfully changed the world we are living in for the worse. Franco describes how most aspects of his life that he has always thought of as being definite are now starting to disappear in front of his eyes. The way that humans have treated our planet is ultimately resulting in the downfall of its diversity and its beauty. This position that Franco holds is something that I believe both Henry David Thoreau, and David Haskell would agree with.
The poet uses examples of imagery in this poem. The poet uses a simile in the first line of the first stanza to start off the poem. The simile she uses is ''the skin cracks like a pod''. The opening of the poem gives a clear message that something is severely wrong. A pod cracks with barely any resistance so the comparison to the skin is a unreserved statement outlining how easily the skin is. There is obviously a drought or a vast undersupply of water. The opening surprises the reader and gives an indication of what is to come. The poet uses a short and abrupt line which is effective
In doing this, the usher of the church on “Fifth Avenue,” abandoned someone less fortunate in order to maintain a good appearance. This “house of God,” which should be opening its doors to give a he lping hand, turns away a man in need of help. Hughes shows betrayal in the same poem, when the less fortunate man asks St. Peter if he can stay. St. Peter replies, “You ca...
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.