GCSE English Anthology/Poetry Essay Question
Compare how ‘vultures’ and one other poem from this section convey strong attitudes and feelings about how people are treated in society.
I have chosen to compare ‘vultures’ and ‘two scavengers in a truck two beautiful people in a Mercedes’
The two poems both convey strong attitudes and a feeling of how people are treated by society. In vultures the poet shows the different views of the vulture, and the commandant at belson both different views of the same person where as in scavengers the poet show the difference of two totally different people and how society views different people.
In vultures the poet keeps on changing the way the vultures are seen from negative ‘bashed-in head’ and in a positive light ‘nestled close to his mate’ Achebe has done this to represent a contrast in the views of the vultures but I believe the poem isn’t really just about a pair of vultures – its an allegory about people in society and how they treat people differently. Also in scavengers the poet Ferlinghetti establishes the contrast of the different classes, and how the attitudes of society are towards them. He does it in very simple ways for instance the contrast in clothing, from the ‘red plastic blazers’ of the scavengers to the ‘hip three piece linen suit’. In the poem the poet uses great detail in describing of the characters, I believe he does this to highlight the differences of the two classes. In both poems the poets are showing how we are meant to be equal but how we aren’t.
