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Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

English is Love

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Warm-up Questions

When you hear the title “Grade 12 Poetry: ‘Vultures’ by Chinua Achebe,” what topics or themes do you expect (nature, war, morality, etc.)?
What feelings or images do you personally associate with vultures?
What kinds of things do you usually do when you “analyze” a poem in school?

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Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

Introduction, context, and first reading of the poem (00:00 – 03:39)

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1. According to the speaker, the poem is not only about literal vultures but uses them mainly to explore what idea?

The beauty of the sunrise in nature
How birds migrate across Africa
How to protect endangered species
The nature of evil and the cruelty of mankind

2. What event does the speaker say inspired Achebe to write the poem?

Winning literary awards
His time working for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service
Reading about ancient Greek myths
Witnessing horrors in the Nigerian civil war

3. In the poem lines read aloud, what does the commandant pick up on the way home?

A loaf of bread
A bottle of milk
A newspaper
A chocolate

Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

Line-by-line analysis: setting, vultures, and love in a ‘charnel house’ (03:39 – 12:09)

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1. In the speaker’s explanation, what does “harbinger” mean in this context?

A person or thing that announces the arrival of something else
A place where birds sleep
A feeling of happiness at sunrise
A type of steady light rain

2. What figure of speech does the speaker identify in the phrase “broken bones of a dead tree”?

Irony
Personification
Hyperbole
Simile

3. How does the speaker interpret the idea that love can ‘pick a corner’ in a ‘charnel house’?

Love is always stronger in animals than in humans
Love chooses only beautiful places to survive
Love cannot exist where there is any suffering
Love can find a way to exist even in unpleasant environments, sometimes by ignoring evil

Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

The commandant, moral choice, the poem’s conclusion, and structure/technique (12:09 – 21:25)

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1. Why does the speaker say human evil is different from a vulture’s gruesome feeding?

Humans act on instinct, but vultures can choose morally
Both humans and vultures always behave the same way
Vultures never eat dead animals
Vultures act on instinct, but humans can make moral decisions and still choose evil

2. What are the two options offered by the poem’s conclusion, as the speaker explains it?

To focus only on nature imagery, or only on rhyme scheme
To celebrate war or to reject history
To praise ‘bounteous Providence’ for a tiny tenderness in cruel hearts, or to despair because evil is lodged in kindred love
To blame vultures for human actions, or to forgive everyone completely

3. What does the speaker say “enjambment” (run-on lines) does in the poem?

It forces every line to end with punctuation
It creates flow when the poem is read
It creates a strict rhyme scheme
It makes the poem shorter by removing imagery

Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

Transcript will load here…

1. What central contrast does the speaker highlight repeatedly in the poem?

Science versus religion
City life versus country life
Tenderness/love versus cruelty/evil
Past versus future technology

2. What is the main purpose of the vulture imagery in the speaker’s interpretation?

To create a romantic mood
To criticize weather patterns in Nigeria
To teach bird biology in detail
To symbolize and explore the presence of evil (and its connection with love/tenderness)

3. How does the speaker describe the poem’s form overall?

Free verse with minimal punctuation and enjambment
A sonnet with a fixed rhyme scheme
A limerick with comic rhythm
A ballad with repeated refrains

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

Grade 12 Poetry: 'Vultures' by Chinua Achebe

The speaker argues that vultures act on instinct but humans make moral choices. Do you agree that this makes human evil “worse”? Why or why not?
Why do you think Achebe places images of tenderness (mates, children, chocolate) next to violent or disgusting images? What effect does it create?
Which interpretation do you find more convincing: hope (a tiny “glowworm tenderness”) or despair (the “perpetuity of evil”)? Explain your view.
Can love and cruelty exist in the same person? Give an example from real life, history, or literature (no need to be personal).