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VULTURES – CHINUA ACHEBE
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. 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 ...
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!
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... 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 ...
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.
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VULTURES – CHINUA ACHEBE (AN ANALYSIS)
Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian writer who would probably be familiar with the sight of
vultures, which are scavenging birds, feeding on the carcass of a dead animal. This is
the image that he explores in the first section of his poem entitled “Vultures”. A
miserable scene is set with grey weather, and Achebe uses alliteration in the phrase
“drizzle of one despondent dawn” – this emphasises the depressing atmosphere. There
is no sign of sun at the start of the day, as the phrase “unstirred by harbingers of
sunbreak” tells us (harbinger meaning a sign or announcer).
A pair of vultures are sitting together on the branch of a tree. Achebe uses both
alliteration and metaphor in describing the branch as a “broken bone”, and the tree is
dead. This reinforces the bleakness of the scene and reminds us that vultures are in
the habit of feeding on dead creatures. The first suggestion of gentleness comes when
Achebe tells us that the male vulture is “nestled close to his mate”, conveying the
feeling that they are fond of each other's company. The description of the male vulture,
however, is hardly flattering: “his smooth / bashed-in head, a pebble / on a stem rooted
in / a dump of gross / feathers”. The metaphor of the pebble is appropriate, as the
vulture's head is indeed small in comparison to its body, and the adjectives “dump” and
“gross” both emphasise how ugly the bird is. Yet his head is “inclined affectionately to
hers”, so the attraction between the pair of vultures is clear to see.
In the next few lines Achebe gives an extremely distasteful description of how the
vultures had, the day before, fed on a dead animal. The phrases “picked the eyes” and
“swollen corpse” are nothing if not disgusting. Achebe goes on to relate that the birds
ate the contents of the animal’s intestines too. They had then had their fill, or were “full
gorged” as the poet tells us, and settled on a branch. What remained of the corpse is
described as a “hollow remnant” which the vultures observed with “cold telescopic
eyes”. There is no inkling here, at the end of the first section, of any gentleness at all.
In the second section of “Vultures”, Achebe comments on the nature of the love, using
personification. He begins with a single word, “Strange”, that attracts attention,
appearing on its own in line 22. What Achebe finds strange is that love is usually “so
particular”, fussy about appearances perhaps, but in this case it exists in a “charnel
house”, a building where bodies or bones are stored. This idea marks a shift in the
poem's focus, away from the vultures. Achebe observes that love can be found in such
a place, where she would tidy a little corner and “perhaps even fall asleep” there. The
second section ends, however, with the remark that if this happened, love's face would
be “turned to the wall”, presumably to avoid the sight of skeletal remains.
In the third section of the poem, Achebe identifies the charnel house as Belsen Camp,
which was a German concentration camp where many people were gassed during the
Second World War. This section of the poem focusses on the Commandant of that
camp as he leaves at the end of a day. Achebe's description of him initially stresses the
thoroughly unpleasant side: “with fumes of / human roast clinging / rebelliously to his
hairy / nostrils”. The phrase “human roast” seems particularly odious with its
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connotations of cooking, and the word “rebelliously” suggests that the smell refuses go
away even after the Commandant has left the camp.
In line 35, Achebe shows a different side to the Commandant, just as he demonstrated
the affection between the pair of vultures. He describes how this seemingly repulsive
man will stop at a sweet-shop on his way home to buy some chocolate for his children.
The children are referred to as “his tender offspring”, and he is their “Daddy”. Here,
Achebe creates a feeling of a loving family; the children are probably blissfully unaware
of what their father's work involves. They await his homecoming and he enjoys bringing
them a treat at the end of the day.
In the fourth and final section of “Vultures”, Achebe presents us with two alternative
conclusions to draw from the behaviour of the vultures and the Commandant. He
suggests that we might “Praise bounteous providence”, and the fact that he includes the
phrase “if you will” perhaps infers that this is the alternative he would prefer us to
choose. He is asking us to rejoice in the fact that an “ogre” has “a tiny glow-worm
tenderness”, using a metaphor to describe the element of love that lights up, like a glow
worm, the Commandant's otherwise despicable life. This love is “encapsulated / in icy
caverns of a cruel / heart”: Achebe uses metaphor once again, this time to convey how
cold the Commandant's heart is.
The second alternative that Achebe presents us with is one of “despair”; that we might
choose to despair that within the tiny element of love or tenderness we find “the
perpetuity of evil”.
Even though we can see signs of affection and love, we fear that this might always be
outweighed by cruelty, hatred or wrongdoing. “Evil” is the final word of the poem, but
Achebe is nevertheless giving us a choice. Do we look for the spark of goodness in a
person no matter how repulsive their actions are, or do we overlook the tenderness and
focus on the dark, evil side that appears to be dominant? Achebe has taken an
example from the past in the Commandant of Belsen Camp, but in describing the habits
of the vultures he shows that the existence of love and evil side by side is eternal.
The poem “Vultures” is not divided into stanzas, but it is clear where one section ends
and another begins through the use of ellipsis and the indentation of the first line line of
the second, third and fourth stanzas. The poem is in free verse with lines of varying
length that flow from one into the next. Although there are fifty-one lines in all, there are
only six sentences. Achebe skillfully combines contrasting descriptions within one
sentence to give a sense of love and evil existing together rather than separately.
It is up to each one of us to decide whether we wish to recognize and appreciate love or
tenderness where it seems to be overshadowed by hatred, or whether we allow
ourselves to be disheartened by the evil that finds its way inside every grain of love.
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VULTURES – 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.
ABOUT CHINUA ACHEBE
Chinua Achebe was a contemporary Nigerian Poet who spent part of his life living in his
native Africa and part of it in the United States. He was a highly educated man who is
one of Africa’s most famous writers producing not just poetry but novels as well. He
dabbled in politics, but left that endeavour behind, allegedly due to frustration with
corruption. His poems dealt largely with his own culture, but one of his more famous
pieces of poetry was this piece, about Belsen, although even this was tied to his own
culture using the imagery of vultures.
FIRST STANZA
This first stanza begins with a relentlessly long sentence filled with dark, sullen
descriptions. He uses alliteration in the second and third line “drizzle of one despondent
dawn” but this is an enjambment line and so doesn’t give the ebb and flow usually
associated with alliteration. This helps to emphasize the bleak tone Achebe is trying to
achieve. He uses the description of the vultures’ seating position “perching high on
broken bones of a dead tree”. It is unclear whether he is describing the tree as being
bone-like or if the vultures are actually perched upon a mound of bones. Achebe then
continues to describe the birds themselves and paints a grim image of them, having
already described them as harbingers, a word closely associated with the bringing of
death. He describes them as having “bashed in heads” and “gross feathers” and later in
the final line he describes them as having “cold telescopic eyes”, giving the birds an
almost mechanical feel, suggesting they shouldn’t even really be classed as animal. He
then continues to describe their actions, again this is very grim as they peck at the eye
of a corpse. He further describes the vultures eating the corpse’s bowel.
SECOND STANZA
In this stanza Achebe skillfully contrasts the “light” of love with the “dark” of death by
mentioning that in this darkest of environments, the “charnel-house”, a storage place
for corpses, there is the presence of love. He personifies love itself. He uses an
exclamation mark on the phrase “her face turned to the wall” because love can’t stand
to look at the atrocities contained within. It may also be a reference to people being
lined up against walls before being gunned down by firing squads, but that’s purely
speculative!
THIRD STANZA
This stanza throws the poem on its head somewhat. It cleverly constructs the character
of the Commandant. His description is not particularly flattering. His only physical
description describes his “hairy nostrils” but his actions are kind and very human. He
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brings chocolate home for his child. A kind gesture and not actions you would probably
associate with a war criminal. Achebe makes us see that even this horrible man has a
soft side and that is represented by the description of his interactions with his child. It is
almost as if his child represents his “good side” and the vultures represent his “bad
side”. Achebe also produces the harrowing image of the smell produced by Belsen, the
smell that lingers on the Commandant himself being described as “human roast”,
considering the man smelling this way and then hugging his “tender offspring”. This is a
very powerful piece of imagery.
FOURTH STANZA
In this final stanza Achebe brings the poem to a close by describing how even the
“ogre” that is the commandant has a soft side, which was shown in the preceding
stanza. He emphasises the solace that should be taken in this small mercy “praise
bounteous providence”. His language here is particularly emphatic and evokes fantastic
contrasts, describing the Commandant’s humanity as a “tiny glow worm” which is
encapsulated in a “cruel, icy cavern”. Even the word encapsulated isn’t accidental,
suggesting that his warmth is trapped. It gives a picture of an evil man that would be rid
of that warmth if possible. This is further emphasised by the line “the very germ of that
kindred love”. This is not the voice of the narrator but rather a peak into the psyche of
the Commandant and showing the narrator’s omniscience. 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.
VULTURES SUMMARY
I think 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 I don’t think is a coincidence. I
think 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 The form of this poem is very clever as it creates
a grim image, creates a glimmer of hope in the second and third stanza and then ends
on a dour note, emphasising the futility of the situation.
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TITLE
Vultures, something vindictive and preying upon those who are weak?
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
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 …
The layout for this poem is odd to break up so I will just comment between each stanza.
A dawn that starts grey and despondent can only be a pessimistic, hopeless one.
There is no relenting, no signal that a brighter day is coming as there is no sunrise.
A vulture awaits, a bird of prey, ready to swoop down on a victim, and again this
somewhat apocalyptic scene is added to with the vulture being perched in a dead tree.
There is a little softness in it being ‘snuggled’ with its mate, but then that is striking
against the ‘bashed-in head’ – is this ‘vulture’ dead? It seems an odd juxtaposition here
– a pebble, which is lifeless, on a stem and rooted within feathers – all living features. I
know it is representative of how a vulture looks but still I can’t help see this contrast. It is
like a stone cold mind intent on finding its prey within a living, breathing body. It’s an
odd comparison for me.
The vulture is made of stone in its heart – it has no feeling since yesterday they picked
a corpse clean and then sat purveying the surroundings awaiting the next kill in the
trenches – let’s face it, there will be fresh meat soon if they are on a battlefield.
Strange
indeed how love in other
ways so particular
will pick a corner
in that charnel-house
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tidy it and coil up there, perhaps
even fall asleep – her face
turned to the wall!
Yes, it is strange, a moment of love between these two ‘vulture’s if that is what they
really are, in the charnel-house – we’re talking about the way we see the description
here that is very, very cold. Since a charnel-house is place for human skeletal remains
to be left, these trenches must hold many a skeleton. Have they unearthed them for
food? Probably not – vultures are powerful but not enough to dig up bodies. So then
their ‘feast’ has been laid out for them on perhaps a battleground. They’ve tidied it –
they’ve picked the flesh from the corpses clean.
I like the balance here where love can even exist in death, but I wonder if it’s more than
that, that even in darkness love exists.
… 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 …
And now it becomes a little clearer. This is no battlefield at all, no opposing sides, just
predator and prey. Belsen appears to be the Belsen-Bergen Concentration Camp,
which makes the vultures the Nazis overseeing the deaths of the prisoners. They have
picked them clean – as history tells us – of their gold teeth, hair, belongings, tossed
them out as nothing more than dead animals and strewn them across the ground, a
jumble of bodies of nothingness. The parent vultures, perhaps bringing trinkets home
for their children, all the while smelling of death. This really is a despicable image. It’s
like a regular nine to five for them and at night they hang up their work jacket and head
home with treats for the children and love for their spouses, as though they are mere
pen-pushers instead of killers.
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
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lodged the perpetuity
of evil.
It is so hard to reconcile that these people were actually people – husbands, wives,
parents – and that they could murder so many other husbands, wives, parents –
children – in the name of wiping out people they just didn’t see as people any longer.
So, it is a miracle that there is any humanity in them – any care for anyone at all. How
could they return home to look their loved ones in the eye when the deaths of so many
were on their hands? What paints an even more disturbing image is that the vultures in
the beginning are the ‘loved-up’ couple, so it is husband and wife ‘teams’ who are
somehow able to commit such abhorrent crimes and then return to their ‘nurturing’
parental role. Can you imagine the upbringing these children would have had –
perhaps kept away from the more gruesome facts but nonetheless exposed to the
idealised racism and hatred that the parents believed?
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FORM – THE VAGUELY TECHNICAL STUFF
Division and order
Four stanzas of free verse that set up a scene with unusual imagery before revealing
the truth of the story.
Tone
It feels like we’re going in as though viewing a nature documentary, then it is a study of
familial life and then the realisation of what this loving family actually does for a ‘living’.
Suggested rhyme scheme
Free verse!
Similes and metaphors
Vultures – nazis. The corpses – they aren’t really metaphoric but the Jews held prisoner
in the camps.
Author’s relationship with his subject
Observer only. It feels very much like the author wants to distance himself as much as
possible from what has happened and shows his surprise for how these vultures can go
about a regular life of parenting whilst committing the atrocities that they did.
OTHER POINTS OF VIEW (IDEAS FROM OTHER SOURCES)
Since the author was born in Nigeria so the imagery of vultures preying on the
landscape must seem an ideal metaphor for the subject.
The poem has been heavily analysed for AQA GCSE English Literature presented by
AQA and there is a wealth of resources, powerpoints, blogs and images supporting the
poem.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE POEM?
The poem introduces us to the vultures and their unpleasant diet; in spite of this, they
appear to care for each other. From this Achebe goes on to note how even the worst of
human beings show some touches of humanity – the concentration camp commandant,
having spent the day burning human corpses, buys chocolate for his “tender offspring”
(child or children). This leads to an unclear conclusion:
MIXED MESSAGES
On the one hand, Achebe tells us to “praise bounteous providence” that even the worst
of creatures has a little goodness, “a tiny glow-worm tenderness”; on the other hand, he
concludes in despair, it is the little bit of “kindred love” (love of one's own kind or
relations) which permits the “perpetuity of evil” (allows it to survive0, because the evil
person can think himself to be not completely depraved.
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
These camps were set up for the sole purpose of eliminating the Jews.
The two most infamous camps were in Poland and were called Auschwitz and Belson.
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VULTURES – Chinua Achebe
CHINUA ACHEBE
1. Chinua Achebe was born in the village of Ogidi, Nigeria in Western Africa in 1931.
2. His father was a missionary and so Achebe was brought up as a Christian, though
he had many of the traditions and values of the Ibo culture.
3. He worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company before leaving in 1966 to
concentrate on writing.
4. During conflict between the Nigerians and Biafrans (1967-1970), Achebe worked as
a diplomat for the Biafran cause.
5. In the early stages of the war, he and his wife had a narrow escape from death when
their flat was bombed.
6. By 1970 the Biafran tribe had been starved into surrendering.
7. He taught in many American universities, but he is also known for being a novelist
who explores how European culture affected African society.
8. His novels describe the traditions and speech of the Ibo tribe and follow their
struggle to free themselves from the European culture and influences.
9. This poem is seen as an aspect of this struggle.
10. Vultures are compared to a Nazi Commandant who preys greedily and ruthlessly on
the helpless.
11. Chinua Achebe’s war experiences are reflected in the 1971 collection Beware, Soul
Brother, where the poem Vultures first appeared.
SETTING AND CONTEXT:
1. Two vultures roosting by a roadside prompt thoughts on the nature of evil.
2. The poem is set principally in the Biafran war, although this is not mentioned
explicitly (in an obvious way).
3. The second part of the poem refers explicitly to the Second World War.
4. By implication/suggestion the poem is relevant to all human conflict.
5. The poem begins with a graphic and unpleasant description of a pair of vultures who
nestle lovingly together after feasting on a corpse.
6. The poet comments on the strangeness of love existing in places where one would
not expect.
7. He then goes on to consider the love a concentration camp commandant shows to
his family, having spent the day burning human corpses, he buys his child sweets on
the way home.
8. The ending/conclusion of the poem is ambiguous/two sided. On one hand, Achebe
praises God and providence that even the cruellest of creatures can show love. On
the other hand, these creatures show love for their families only and so allow
themselves to commit cruel acts towards others.
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FORMS AND TECHNIQUES:
1. Free verse in three sections separated by an ellipsis (three dots …)
2. The ellipsis (three dots …) and the tab in from the margin show a change in thought
or perspective on the poet’s part.
3. The second section is itself in two parts again separated by an ellipsis.
4. There is a logical structure: (a) observation (b) reflection (c) further example (d)
general reflection.
5. The poem goes from descriptive to reflective back to descriptive and then reflective
again in terms of the style and structure.
6. The opening mood is grim/gloomy.
7. Line 1-greyness: suggests a dull start to the poem
8. Line 2 – 3: drizzle of one despondent/dawn – the grimness is emphasised by the
use of alliteration of the d sound.
9. Line 3: harbingers: people or things that announce the approach of someone or
something.
10. Lines 5 – 6: broken/bone-alliteration running on two lines for impact.
11. Line 9: bashed-in head – description of the vultures’ heads, suggests something
that has been damaged or harmed.
12. Lines 9 – 13: a pebble/on a stem rooted in/ a dump of gross/feathers, inclined
affectionately/to hers – this is a metaphor describing the vultures. It conveys an
image of something disgusting. Their affectionate gestures/actions towards each
other is unexpected in this context, after such a gross description of them.
13. Lines 11, 14, 19 and 20 – gross… swollen… hollowed… cold, these are negative
adjectives associated with the activities of the vultures.
14. Lines 13 – 17: Yesterday they picked/the eyes of a swollen/corpse in a water
logged/ trench and ate the/things in its bowel. Again another grotesque image is
associated with the vultures, this time it is not their appearance rather what they do.
15. Line 22: Strange – reflection on something is suggested by the use of the word
‘strange’ as if the poet is stopping to think.
16. Line 26: charnel house – a building where corpses and bones are placed.
17. Line 27: coil up – this conjures up the image of a snake, again another vulgar
image.
18. Lines 22-29: 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 asleepher face/turned to the wall. Love is personified in this section. Love is seen to
pick a corner and tidy up and fall asleep. Love is given human characteristics. It is
a sharp contrast to the rotting corpse and death mentioned in the first section of the
poem.
19. Line 30: …Thus the Commandant at Belsen – the language here is almost
Biblical. A Commandant was a German officer in charge of a camp or unit.
20. Belsen is the name of a WWII Nazi concentration camp where Jews and other
prisoners were held and killed; their bodies were often incinerated/burned. Anne
Frank was killed here as well as 50,000 others. The camp was liberated in 1945.
21. Line 33: human roast – refers to the victims in the concentration camp as if they
were being cooked (Belsen). This is a shocking phrase, very visual and descriptive.
22. Lines 34 – 35: hairy/nostrils – the commandant’s hairy nostrils are like the vultures’
feathers. Both creatures are ugly but both are capable of love.
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23. Lines 39 – 40: Daddy’s/return: an ordinary domestic/homely image is used to
suggest the father’s love.
24. Line 41 – 42: Praise bounteous/providence – more Biblical language talking about
all the good things God gives to mankind.
25. Line 43: ogre – a type of monster, here it represents evil and the glow worm
represents love.
26. Lines 43 – 47: that grants even an ogre/a tiny glow worm/tenderness
encapsulated/in icy caverns of a cruel/heart – the contrast in the final section
between the glow worm and ogre suggests that evil is bigger than love. This is a
powerful image that shows us the glow worm (love) becoming enclosed/
encapsulated in the icy caverns of the ogre’s (evil) heart.
27. Line 46: icy caverns of a cruel – alliteration used for impact-sharp sounds.
28. Line 49: kindred – related by blood, close family, the same.
29. Line 50: perpetuity – the state of continuing forever.
30. Lines 47 – 51: or else despair/for in the very germ/of that kindred love is/lodged
the perpetuity/of evil. – this final section of the poem is one of despair as Achebe
believes that the evil will continue forever even if there is the potential for love in the
same being.
31. Achebe’s conclusion of the poem offers a choice of responses:
 hope because love can exist in even the most evil of creatures.
 despair, because despite love that cannot stop committing evil.
THEME AND INTERPRETATION:
1. Achebe is fascinated by the fact that creatures that love can also carry out acts of
great evil.
OR
Creatures that carry out acts of great evil, can also love.
2. He suggests at the end of the poem that these two factors may be more closely
linked to each other than most people think.
3. There is a fine line between love and hate.
LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE:
1. The poem is written in free verse with lines of different lengths. The lines are short
so we read the poem slowly and appreciate its horrors.
2. It is divided into four sections. Each is marked by an indented line rather than a new
stanza, perhaps to stress the logical flow of ideas. There is minimal punctuation to
continue the flow of the poem.
3. The title is deceptive/misleading like. This poem begins with a cold and repulsive
image of the vultures. We soon realise that they are symbols of evil and their main
purpose is to introduce the theme of evil in the poem.
4. The description of the vultures is in the past tense, whereas the Belsen
Commandant is described in the present continuous tense, perhaps to show us
that evil is all around us now.
5. The concentration camp commandant cannot escape the evil deeds he has just
committed that day. …the fumes of human roast [cling] rebelliously to his hairy
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nostrils (Line 32). The word roast makes us think of food and it is even more
repulsive/disgusting that he buys chocolate for his child on the way home.
IMAGERY AND SOUND:
1. The opening of the poem is dark. The greyness (Line 1) is heightened by the heavy
alliteration in drizzle of one despondent dawn (Line 2) and even by the
approaching sunbreak (Line 4) does not light up the atmosphere.
2. There are metaphors of horror and death. The dead tree (Line 6) branch which the
vultures roost on is described as a broken bone (Line 5).
3. The male vulture’s bashed in head is a pebble on a stem (Line 9) and its body is a
dump of gross feathers. (Line 11)
4. In the second section the vultures love leads the poet on to think about the nature of
love.
5. Love is personified as a woman finding a place to sleep. She is in other ways so
particular (Line 23) and hard to please, yet strangely she chooses to sleep with the
vultures, that charnel house (Line2 6). Yet why does she sleep with her face to
the wall? (Line 28)? Is it to avoid seeing what is really there?
6. The Belsen Commandant – the mass murderer – is called Daddy. Achebe uses this
word as it brings the man back to someone we would associate with children, thus
making his actions at work even more horrifying.
7. In the fourth section the poet uses more metaphors. The evil Commandant is seen
as an ogre with a tiny spark of love inside him, which is the glow worm. These
images are clichéd but Achebe is saying nothing new – that there will always be love
and evil in the world.
8. The germ of love does not seem to grow as a normal seed would because of the
perpetuity of evil (Line 50) that is bound up with it and prevents it from developing.
Germ here refers to something like a seed rather than a germ of disease.
9. Alliteration is used throughout the poem for impact.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1.
What does the word ‘nestled’ (line 7) mean?
To ‘nestle’ is to make oneself physically comfortable, perhaps with a cushion, or
to physically snuggle close to another for warmth or comfort.
2.
Is the ‘bashed-in’ head (line 9) of the vulture meant to be understood
literally or figuratively? Explain your answer.
This line is meant to be understood figuratively. If the head were literally ‘bashed
in’ the vulture would be dead. In this instance, the vulture’s appearance is
described as so unappealing or ugly that the head looks almost disfigured.
3.
The word ‘harbingers’ (line 3) is often used in the expression ‘harbingers of
doom’. How does the inversion of this expression link to the message of
the poem?
There is an interesting set of contrasts implied through the choice of the phrase
‘harbingers/of sunbreak’ (lines 3 – 4). In one sense, the appearance of the
carrion birds are in fact messengers or symbols of death as their presence
indicates a corpse in the vicinity. In this instance, however, they are heralding
the dawn which is a positive, if inverted, turn of phrase.
4.
The poet seems to be drawing a parallel between the vulture and the
Commandant at Belsen. Do you think that this is an appropriate
comparison? Discuss.
Yes, it is an appropriate comparison. On one level, both the vultures and the
Commandant provoke disgust and repulsion – the vultures for their habits and
behaviour, and the Commandant for his occupation overseeing the genocide of
his fellow human beings. In both instances, the poet shows the disconcerting
evidence of warmth and affection: The vultures appear to enjoy each other’s
company and are affectionate towards each other; the Commandant buys a treat
for his child, showing his ability to feel love for another. The poet seems to find
the ‘goodness’ amidst the savagery and brutality alarming, but undeniable.
OR
No, this comparison seems inappropriate. By drawing a parallel between the
Commandant and the vultures, the poet suggests that the vultures are as
horrifying and evil as a person who oversaw the genocide of millions of people.
This is unfair to the vultures that pick at corpses and ‘oversee’ others’ deaths as
a means of salvation.
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Although the poet seems to suggest that there can be goodness amidst savagery
and brutality, it is inappropriate to suggest that the natural behaviour of vultures
is on par with that of the Nazi Commandant.
5.
Critically discuss the concept of evil as explored by Achebe in this poem.
Can an animal be considered evil? Do you agree with Achebe’s comment
on human nature?
While the co-existence of ‘kindred love’ (line 49) with the ‘perpetuity / of evil’
(lines 50-51) is explored convincingly in the poem, it is difficult to label an animal
as ‘evil’ for simply acting on its instincts and in accordance with its design. After
all, the vultures provide a vital service in our ecosystem so they surely cannot be
termed ‘evil’. On the other hand, man has a conscience and a choice, and even
if he has ‘evil’ impulses, he can, and must, repress them. Human nature is
complex and nuanced as no individual can be entirely good or entirely wicked,
but one can overpower the other if the impulse is permitted to do so.