1. Vultures
Chinua Achebe

2. Chinua Achebe Born 1930 in Nigeria
Writes about the breakdown of traditional African Culture in the face of European Colonization in the 1800s.
Sought to educate his fellow Nigerians about their culture and traditions
Also a very outspoken advocate for non-violence
He believes in the power of literature to create social change.
Died 31 March 2013

3. In the greyness
and drizzle of one despondent
dawn unstirred by harbingers
of sunbreak a vulture
perching high on broken
bones of a dead tree
nestled close to his
mate his smooth
bashed-in head, a pebble
on a stem rooted in
a dump of gross
feathers, inclined affectionately
to hers.
Yesterday they picked
the eyes of a swollen
corpse in a water-logged
trench and ate the
things in its bowel. Full
gorged they chose their roost
keeping the hollowed remnant
in easy range of cold
telescopic eyes...

4. ...Thus the Commandant at Belsen
Camp going home for
the day with fumes of
human roast clinging
rebelliously to his hairy
nostrils will stop
at the wayside sweet-shop
and pick up a chocolate
for his tender offspring
waiting at home for Daddy's
return...
Strange
indeed how love in other
ways so particular
will pick a corner
in that charnel-house
tidy it and coil up there, perhaps
even fall asleep - her face
turned to the wall!

5. Praise bounteous
providence if you will
that grants even an ogre
a tiny glow-worm
tenderness encapsulated
in icy caverns of a cruel
heart or else despair
for in the very germ
of that kindred love is
lodged the perpetuity
of evil.

6. Summary:
The poem “Vultures” speaks broadly about life and humanity, using the specific example that evil beings like vultures and the commandant in the Belsen camp are alike, both fighting for survival and happiness.
The vulture “perching high on broken bone of a dead tree” is fighting for survival by feeding off dead animals.
In the same way, the commandant tries to survive by killing innocent people. However, they both have some good in them; the vulture loves the other vulture and the commandant loves his baby

7. Summary: The poem is roughly divided into four sections.
The first of these observes two vultures as they scavenge for food amongst human remains before resting up with each other as mates.
The second section shows the rebellious nature of love and how love always will be present.
The third section follows the Commandant of Belsen as he buys sweets for his beloved offspring.
Both of these support the observations in the final section which ruminates on how even in the most evil person, love can take shape, whereas in every love there is the smallest speck of evil.

8. Summary:
The underlying philosophical question of the poem is: "Should we rejoice at the presence of good in the least likely of places, or despair at the fact that it is the very presence of this good that allows for the perpetuity of evil?"
An alternative explanation is that love of kindred (kin, kind) is inextricably linked with hatred of non-kin (unkind).

9. Form:
The poem is written in four stanzas, in free verse with no rhyming pattern.
It contains lots of enjambment lines giving the poem a fast pace, but with a jarring rhythm that mirrors the dark tone of the poem.
The first stanza is considerably larger than the other three taking up twenty three lines that are all very short.
The other three stanzas are eight, eleven and eleven lines respectively.

10. and drizzle of one despondent dawn unstirred by harbingers
Stanza One:
Setting tone of despair, gloom
In the greyness
and drizzle of one despondent
dawn unstirred by harbingers
of sunbreak a vulture
perching high on broken
bones of a dead tree
nestled close to his
mate his smooth
bashed-in head, a pebble
on a stem rooted in
a dump of gross
feathers, inclined affectionately
to hers.
Alliteration of harsh “d”.
One who foreshadows or is a forerunner of things to come.
New beginnings? Look at the preceding imagery.
Imaginary of violent death
Look at the way that these symbols of death and evil who eat the decaying corpses of others can have a loving side to the.
Disgusting
In the greyness
and drizzle of one despondent
dawn unstirred by harbingers
of sunbreak a vulture
perching high on
bones of a dead tree
nestled close to his
mate his smooth
bashed-in head, a pebble
on a stem rooted in
a dump of gross
feathers, inclined affectionately
to hers.

11. corpse in a water-logged trench and ate the things in its bowel. Full
Stanza One (cont.):
Yesterday they picked
the eyes of a swollen
corpse in a water-logged
trench and ate the
things in its bowel. Full
gorged they chose their roost
keeping the hollowed remnant
in easy range of cold
telescopic eyes...
Building on the picture of a creature that benefits and feeds from the demise of other living creatures.
Look at the disgusting imagery portrayed.
Stuffing until full, almost to the point of vomiting.
Eyes devoid of emotion and that see everything that is happening. They do not move far away from their “food source”.

12. Stanza One:
In the first stanza a very dull and lifeless atmosphere is created.
The poet describes the,“…greyness and drizzle of one despondent dawn” and how the vultures“ picked the eyes of a swollen corpse in a water-logged trench”.
They eat disgusting food in order to survive. 

13. indeed how love in other ways so particular will pick a corner
Stanza Two:
“Love” seemingly needs certain conditions to grow and thrive and yet “Love” can also growth and thrive in circumstances where it seems impossible and amongst creatures/ people who seem incapable of love.
A tone of thoughtfulness or of perusing the inability of the poet to understand the fickleness of love.
Strange
indeed how love in other
ways so particular
will pick a corner
in that charnel-house
tidy it and coil up there, perhaps
even fall asleep - her face
turned to the wall!
A place where bones of the dead are kept or where bodies are burnt after being killed
Love being personified as a woman.
Take up residence and feel at home and able to stay.
No seeing. We are left to ask why not seeing? Not wanting to see? Ignoring? This is vital.

14. ...Thus the Commandant at Belsen Camp going home for
Stanza Three:
Josef Kramer was tried for crimes against humanity and hung for this on 13 December 1945.
Bergen-Belsen, or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp in 1943 nearby, but it is most commonly associated with the concentration camp. From 1941 to 1945, almost 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war and a further 50,000 inmates died there. Overcrowding, lack of food and poor sanitary conditions caused outbreaks of typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and dysentery, leading to the deaths of more than 35,000 people in the first few months of 1945, shortly before and after the liberation.
...Thus the Commandant at Belsen
Camp going home for
the day with fumes of
human roast clinging
rebelliously to his hairy
nostrils will stop
at the wayside sweet-shop
and pick up a chocolate
for his tender offspring
waiting at home for Daddy's
return...
Because of the large number of deaths many of the camps had charnel houses to burn the dead bodies. The smell of the bodies burning permeates everything and never disappears.
A different picture of this “demonic” man who has children who he spoils and loves and who are anxiously waiting for his arrival.
Look at the two title and the connotations attached.

15. Stanzas Two and Three:
In stanza two, the poet starts to contemplate how love can exist in such an evil infested place, and how love is not affected by evil as seen in the line of the poem “her face turned to the wall!”.
Stanza three begins with an ellipsis to link the vultures with the commandant of Belsen.
After a day of burning human bodies, the unattractive commandant with hairy nostrils still manages to show his love for his baby.
“Tender offspring” makes the children looks as if they are human bodies ready to be burnt. 

16. that grants even an ogre a tiny glow-worm tenderness encapsulated
Stanza Four:
Give thanks for God’s blessings
Praise bounteous
providence if you will
that grants even an ogre
a tiny glow-worm
tenderness encapsulated
in icy caverns of a cruel
heart or else despair
for in the very germ
of that kindred love is
lodged the perpetuity
of evil.
God even gives a cruel monster like the Commandant of Belsin a small touch of kindness, love and humanity. But it is covered in the recesses of his heart and cannot break free. His heart/ natural inclination is towards cruelty.
“Germ” could also be the smallest of potential.
This is a chilling thought, the idea that the Commandant views his softer side as a curse, or a “germ” Achebe closes by using the phrase “perpetuity of evil” suggesting that evilness is enduring, everlasting. This leaves the poem on a very bleak note.

17. Stanza Four:
The poem finishes with the last stanza wrapping up the whole poem.
It says in a contemplative tone and asks if we should thank God for the tiny speck of good we find in evil or should we feel despair for the evil that will stay forever.

18. Final Thoughts:
The vultures, described in such a disparaging; grim fashion could be construed as a metaphor for the people responsible for the atrocities in Belsen and in particular the Commandant.
It is the longest part of the poem and this is not a coincidence.
The first stanza is a metaphor for the Commandant’s predominant personality traits and this is why it dominates so much of the poem’s content.
The third stanza, the scene with his child, represents a far smaller portion of the poem and this is a metaphor for his spark of humanity.
The form of this poem is very clever as it creates a grim and deathly image, it creates a glimmer of hope in the second and third stanzas and then ends on a hopeless and fatalistic note emphasising the futility of the situation.

19. Questions
What comparison do you think Achebe is trying to draw between the vultures and the Commandant? Give evidence for you response. (4)
Why does the poet place love in a Charnel House? What point is he trying to make? (3)
Lines describe the Commandant in contradictory ways. Take two positive and two negative descriptions (give quotes), and discuss what impression they give, and how they contrast. (6)
Achebe’s view on love isn’t clear, and he leaves the reader to come to their own conclusion. How do you respond to the poem? Provide evidence from the text to justify your response. (4)