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
 Step
up to Edmodo (Group code is: mer9us)
3:
 Post
your completed presentation to our Edmodo page
Your presentation should
include…
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
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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
 Asking
preconceived notions.
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
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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
 Seed
frescoes
reference from Luke 8:5-11 (biblical reference)
 Reference
to body being a temple from Corinthians
6:19 (biblical reference)
 Reference
reference)
 Story
 St
to the word of God in John 1:1 (biblical
of the beggar and St Francis
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
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.
Stanza
one
Technique
What does it suggest?
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.
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...