Assisi: Form and Structure

Assisi: Form and Structure

‘Assisi’: Form and Structure

Overview

• ‘Assisi’ is a poem written by Norman MacCaig that narrates his visit to the Italian town.

Form

• ‘Assisi’ is a free verse poem, meaning it does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or structured metre.
• Free verse corresponds to the poem’s theme of freedom, contrasting with the restriction experienced by the dwarf.

Structure

• The poem is separated into three distinct sections or stanzas, each focusing on a different perspective of Assisi.
• These structural sections provide contrasting observations and messages, creating a juxtaposition between the tourist’s, priest’s, and the poet’s views of the town and the dwarf.

Shifts in Focus

• Each stanza shifts focus, starting with descriptions of the town and the church, then moving to the dwarf, and finally to the priest and his sermon.
• These shifts in focus mirror the poet’s growing understanding of the social and religious realities in Assisi.

Enjambment and Pauses

• MacCaig employs enjambment, allowing sentences to run over line breaks, which gives the poem a conversational, observational tone.
• Strategic pauses (caesurae) throughout the poem, marked by punctuation, let the reader feel the weight of the poet’s observations.

Summary

• While free in its form, ‘Assisi’ is structured thematically and strategically, employing shifts in focus, enjambment, and pauses to build a complex and vivid portrait of societal and religious hypocrisy observed in the town.