Vultures (poem)

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Vultures is a poem by Chinua Achebe.

The poem is roughly divided into three sections. The first of these observes two vultures as they scavenge for food amongst human remains before resting up with each other as mates. The second section follows the Commandant of Belsen as he buys sweets for his beloved child. Both of these support the observations in the final section which ruminates on how even in the most evil person, love can take shape, whereas in every love there is the tiniest speck of evil.

The main message of the poem is how love is found in places where it is least expected, or the exact opposite that wherever there is love there is always evil.

A good poem to compare it to is "what were they like"

The poem has been included in the AQA Anthology for study at GCSE.