Vultures essay - Chinua Achebe vs. Margret Atwood

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Compare the ways that vultures are portrayed and used in the poems by Margaret Atwood and Chinua Achebe.

By Jessica Tilbrook.

Chinua Achebe and Margret Atwood grew up in two very different environments. They were born almost a decade apart, yet they both managed to construct two very meaningful poems about vultures.

Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. In 1967 the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria. Achebe became a devoted supporter of Biafra independence and served as ambassador for the people of the nation. But to get this point there was a 3 year war of independence ravage. Chinua Achebe witnesses some horrific scenes. He saw babies, children and adults starving to there death. He saw his own people from Biafra killing others from Nigeria. He saw how loving people have the capacity to be evil and vice versa according to Achebe’s version on the poem ‘vultures’.  Chinua Achebe believed that any good work of art should have a purpose. Achebe’s vultures defiantly had a purpose, as it shows how even evil, vile creatures like vultures have the capacity to love.

Throughout Achebe’s poem there is a negative feel. From the very start of the poem it is unpleasant and quite graphic in the description of the vultures. In the poem it occasionally refers to ‘love’ as one of the vultures ‘inclines affectionately.’ This suggests that even vile creatures can have the capacity to love.

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Chinua Achebe uses many techniques throughout his poem vultures. The structure of the poem has no rhyming scheme or lines of the same lengths. The lines are written short, probably on purpose as you can then appreciate the horror, by reading it slower, creating tension.

Achebe’s poem isn’t really in Stanza’s it is more split into four sections; this is probably done to keep the flow of evil and ideas running through the poem. There is also a lack of punctuation throughout the poem, this could have been done on purpose to keep the poem flowing, like the sections.

Chinua ...

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