Chinua Achebe vs. Margret Atwood Essay

Compare the ways that vultures are portrayed and utilize in the verse forms by Margaret A cardinalod and Chinua Achebe. By Jessica Tilbrook. Chinua Achebe and Margret Atwood grew up in two very different environments. They were born almost a decade ap blind, 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 post 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 crap got people from Biafra killing others from Nigeria. He saw how loving people have the capacity to be evil and vice versa according to Achebes magnetic variation on the poem vultures. Chinua Achebe believed that any good work of art should have a purpose. Achebes vu ltures defiantly had a purpose, as it shows how even evil, vile creatures like vultures have the capacity to love. Throughout Achebes 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 unrivaled of the vultures inclines affectionately. This notifys that even vile creatures can have the capacity to love. Chinua Achebe uses many techniques throughout his poem vultures. The social organisation of the poem has no rhyming scheme or lines of the same lengths. The lines are written short, likely on purpose as you can then lever the horror, by reading it slower, creating tension. Achebes poem isnt really in Stanzas it is more split into four sections this is probably done to keep the bunk 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 Achebe choose to right in past tense for the description of the vultures, as its easier to understand what vultures are like whereas the Belsen Commandant is described in the present tense. This might of been done to remind us that evil is all around us now, and everyone has the capacity to be evil. The word strange on its own, at the beginning of the second section retains us pause, and bet about whats actually going to be strange, which makes you think about the whole section.Throughout Achebes poem there is a lot of imagery a good example of this is Belsen Commandant a mass murderer and his children calling him Daddy, not father. This is probably done so you can visualise how the children have no idea of what there father has actually done, and they are treating him like normal. This is quite emotional to read, as you can imagine this really happening. Another example of Achebes imagery is the metaphors he uses to describe death and horror. In the first secti on it registers vulture perching full(prenominal) on broken castanets of a dead tree.This makes the atmosphere more intense, and builds up the tension from the very beginning. There is some alliteration in the poem, but there are not many references to sound. I think Achebe wants to concentrate on more visual images rather than sound effects to suggest his ideas. I liked Achebes version of the poem vultures. It had a very meaningful purpose, which is what Achebe wanted to achieve. He wanted to use vultures as a fomite to get people to understand that even the most loving of people have the capacity to be evil. I think he used vultures as a very successful vehicle at getting his point across.I also think that this poem is ambiguous on one hand, you could say that even the cruellest of creatures show even the tiniest amount of love, but on the other hand, that even the most loving creatures have potential to be even the slightest pussy evil. The second poem called vultures was wri tten my Margret Atwood. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939. She was a daughter of a forest entomologist, and spent part of her early years in the bush of North Quebec. Atwood is the joint honorary president of the rare bird club of birdlife international. The main message of this poem is how life comes of death.So basically the regular recurrence of life, and even from the most horrific things in life, can bring something extraordinary out of it. Throughout Atwoods poems there are references to death, such as hung and bones. This does not give a good vibe to the poem. Atwood uses several metaphors throughout. Then theyre hyenas, raucous around the kill, flapping their black umbrellas. This is two metaphors in one sentence. She describes the vultures as hyenas which is not only a good comparison but good use of imagery. Also Atwood says the vultures were flapping their black umbrellas this makes them out to seem enormous evil animals.The structure of Atwoods poem is done very well, as she occasionally puts odd words on a separate line to make you think about the poem in more depth. The poem is sort of in stanzas but there isnt maybe, which helps the poem keep flowing. every(prenominal) of the lines in the poem are roughly the same length, apart from the occasional odd word. I think it makes the poem easier to read, and get the rhyme flowing at the right pace. Margret Atwood uses a variety of meaningful and powerful words. For example carnage violate gluttonous all these words have a negative adjoin on vultures.As they are explaining why and how they are vile creates. But some people might say that the way vultures act is completely earthy. This is because it is natural for them to eat, which means killing other animals, to feed themselves and there family. Which shows this poem is also quite ambiguous. There arent many references to sound throughout Atwoods version of Vultures. But she does say vultures snigger at funerals. And sniggering refers to s ound. This also implies vultures are vile creature, as it is inappropriate to horribly giggle at a funeral.I think that Margret Atwood successfully used vultures as a good vehicle to show how life comes out of death, even in the most horrible circumstances. I notion both Chinua Achebe and Margret Atwoods poems both had very different meanings, but both shows contrasts between humans and vultures. In my opinion Chinua Achebes version of vultures was the best used vehicle to get his point across. As he point his point across very well, and he achieved his purpose that any good work of art should have a purpose. So I think Chinua Achebes poem just slightly had an edge over Margret Atwoods because of Achebes aims for his poem.