Assignment -1

Department of English,M. K. Bhavnagar University     

Name :-  Niyati Vyas

Roll No :- 16

Department :-M. A.English department

Semester :-  4

Paper Name :- The African Literature 

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC - Structure of the poem "Vultures ". 

"Vultures" is a poem by Chinua Achebe which was formerly included in the AQA Anthology 'Poetry from other cultures' for study at GCSE.

The poem

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...

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!

...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.

Vultures’ by Chinua Achebe describes the vultures in such a disparaging and grim fashion that could be construed as a metaphor for the people responsible for the atrocities in Belsen and in particular the “Commandant”.

The first stanza is the longest part of the poem and it is not a coincidence. It is a metaphor for the commandant’s predominant personality traits and this is why it dominates so much of the poem’s content. In 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 piece is very clever as it creates a grim image, creates a glimmer of hope in the second and third stanzas, and then ends on a dour note emphasizing the futility of the situation.

The poem is written in four stanzas, in free verse with no rhyming pattern. There a few instances where the poet uses slant rhyme and perfect rhyming as well. Achebe mostly uses alliteration and consonance for creating internal rhymings. It contains lots of enjambed 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-one lines that are all very short. The other three stanzas are eight, eleven, and eleven lines long respectively.

This first stanza of ‘Vultures’ begins with a relentlessly long sentence filled with dark, sullen descriptions. Achebe uses alliteration in the second and third lines: “and drizzle of one despondent/ dawn unstirred by harbingers.” But this is an enjambed 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 vulture’s 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 vulture is actually perched upon a mound of bones.

• Popularity of “Vultures”: “Vultures” by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian poet, is a beautiful piece of poetry. The poem first appeared in 1971 in Collected Poems. The poem obliquely presents the stark reality of colonialism and its impacts on the locals. The beauty of the poem, however, lies in its metaphor of vulture that feeds on dead bodies and still loves each other amid the ruins.

• “Vultures” As a Representative of Colonial Mindset and its Predatory Tactics: Chinua Achebe presents a vulture sitting on a dead tree looking despondently in the rain with greyness in the atmosphere. It is sitting close to another vulture, showing love with each other having bald heads as if pebbles in the grass. Yesterday, they had had their fill with a swollen-eyed corpse. They gulped everything. Now they are waiting for the next onslaught of hunger to be ready to eat up the rest. Yet, they are showing love with each other among the dead bodies, sitting in the charnel house and taking rest. Similarly, the Commandant at Belson also treats his subjects cruelly and predates on them. Yet, when he leaves his duty and goes home, he brings chocolates for his offspring, showing tenderness of his heart. Leaving it to the readers to draw the conclusion, Achebe says that God must be praised for showing love and tenderness residing in the hearts of predators such as ogre as well as showing evil in some the hearts of some “kindred love.”

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 head” and “gross feathers” and later in the final line. He describes them as having “cold telescopic eyes” giving the birds an almost mechanical feel. It suggests they shouldn’t even really be classed as a bird.

He then continues to describe their actions, again this is very grim as they peck at the eye of a corpse. And he further describes the vultures eating the corpse’s bowel. 

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.

Achebe uses an exclamation point 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.

The third verse tosses the sonnet 'Vultures' on its head to some degree. It astutely builds the personality of the "Commandant at Belsen". His depiction isn't especially complimenting. The commandant's just actual depiction incorporates his "bushy nostrils" yet his activities are benevolent and extremely human. He brings chocolate home for his youngster. A good thought and not activities one would most likely partner with a conflict criminal.

Achebe makes perusers see that even this horrendous man has a fragile side and that is tended to by the depiction of his collaborations with his child. It is like his adolescent tends to his "extraordinary side" and the "vultures" address his "horrendous side".

Achebe moreover makes the harrowing image of the smell conveyed at Belsen Camp. The smell that looks out for the commandant himself being depicted as "human supper" considering the man smelling along these lines. Then, he embraces his "fragile successors". This is an incredibly impressive piece of imagery.

In the 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 emphasizes the solace that should be taken in this small mercy “praise bounteous providence”. His language here is particularly emphatic and evokes fantastic contrasts.

He depicts the commandant's mankind as a "little shine worm" which is typified in a "horrible, frosty sinkhole". Indeed, even the word typified isn't inadvertent, recommending that his glow is caught. It gives an image of a malevolent man that would be freed of that glow if conceivable.

This is additionally accentuated by the lines "the actual microorganism/of that fellow love." This isn't the voice of the storyteller but instead a look into the mind of the commandant, showing the storyteller's all-knowingness. It is chilling to believe that the commandant sees his milder side as a revile, or a "microbe". Achebe shuts this refrain by utilizing the expression "ceaselessness of insidiousness" recommending that evilness is persevering, never-ending. This leaves the sonnet on an exceptionally grim note.