Comparing War in Achebe & Levertov

itself means that the poem could be very sad and not at all happy.

The poet is using pathetic fallacy, by using the weather to describe that the events in the poem might be quite grim and upsetting. In the first 3 lines the poet has used alliteration by saying ' drizzle of one despondent dawn '. This draws the attention of the reader by making them say d-d-d. This could also mean stuttering and begging like the Jews would have done before they were killed in the gas chambers or whatever ever method the Germans used to kill . The words, '' a swollen corpse in a water logged trench and ate the things in it bowel '', portrays a image of what the reality of the war was really like.

The poet has used adjectives such as cold, dead, cruel and evil to portray the horror of World War 2 and particularly the behaviour of the Nazis in the concentration camps. In this poem the poet hasn't used a lot of punctuation but where the poet has used it, it has been really effective, because there isn't a fullstop until the 13th line. This could imply that the Jews weren't allowed to stop for a long time and also the number 13 is considered a unlucky number. This could mean that when they stopped some were killed. It could also mean that the Jews were killed instantly and quickly because the full stop is quite a quick and sudden thing.

The poet has written the word '' strange '' on one line, and i think that this could refer to us as human beings and how

we act could be very strange. In the first 21 lines the poet describes 2 vultures, which is implying that the vultures are a metaphor for the German commander and his son. Vultures are often known as creatures that take advantage of weak things, just like the Germans did with the Jews. The vulture is a creature and not a human, but even thou the Germans are humans they all acted like animals towards those they executed during World War 2.

The poet is using vultures to suggest that everybody has a little bit of evil inside them, but on the other hand, Vultures are loving creatures, they stay together for life, so they must show affection to one another to be able to stay with each other for a long amount of time. Therefore I think that this could be a worrying thought because it is quite worrying that we all have some good and evil inside us, so in turn we could all maybe end up like the commander. The poet describes the way the Jews were treated in such a vile way.

Chinua Achebe wrote these lines '' in that charnel-house '' '' bashed in head '' '' a dump of gross feathers ''. I think that the poet is describing the Jews here, because a charnel house was where the bodies were all burnt after they had been executed. The '' bashed in head '' is a horrible way to describe how all the victims during World War 2 were treated. Also the use of the words '' a dump off gross feathers '' isn't a term to do with the vultures, I

think that the author has used this too describe all the clothes the executed people were forced to take off before being executed.

I think that Chinua Achebe has written this poem to make us feel sorry for all the people who were killed during World War 2, because he makes it seem like the people who was killed were not even classed as humans they were classed as animals because they didn't fit in the living style of the Nazis. She makes them seem like animals with the words '' fumes of human roast '' , I think this because you wouldn't normally use the word roast too be associated with humans, because typically you would think of the word roast to do with pigs or some kind of animal.

I think that the form of the poem is interesting because the lines are all quite closely packed together like the Jews were when they were all being transported to the concentration camps. In addition the lines are quite short like the Jews lives where because they wouldn't have lived for long in the concentration camps before they were killed. In the third stanza the poet has written how the commander '' picks up a chocolate for his tender offspring waiting at home for Daddy's return... ''

However later the poet describes the commander by these words. '' in icy caverns of a cruel heart or else despair for in the very germ of that kindred love is lodged that perpetutity of evil. The poet explains that even thou the German commander does all these nasty things, he still loves his child and at the end of

the day he is a human being and that he can love things. Furthermore the poet has used alliteration by saying '' caverns of a cruel heart ''. I think this could imply that the commander was a cold hearted man.

However in the second snippet i wrote, i think that the poet is trying to portray a image that the child of the commander will eventually turn evil because everybody has a little bit of evil inside them, even children. In contrast the poem What Were They Like by Denise Levertov is about the Vietnamese War, which started in 1964 and ended in 1975. The Vietnam War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in south east Asia Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, The war was between communist North Vietnam, supported by communist allies, and South Vietnam, bolstered by the US.

The title makes the reader aware that the poem is about the past and that whatever it is about has already happened. It is also about people because the poet uses the word 'They'. What Were They Like starts on a happy note in contrast to the pathetic fallacy of Vultures because i feel that there is some kind of love between the 2 people in the poem. I think that it could be a grandad and a grandson asking and answering the questions, and that the grandson is very inquisitive of what happened during that time.

In addition I think that the second speaker isn't really able to say much about the Vietnamese people because most of them would of been killed or too traumatised to talk about what happened. At the start the poet

wrote '' Did the people of Viet Nam use lanterns of stone? '' The image i get portrayed to me personally those that the people of Viet Nam are very poor by using lanterns of stone, because usually even in them times i think that they would have had electricity. Also i think that it is foreshadowing the grave stones, and even the death of everybody.

The metaphor of ''Smashed Mirrors'' could mean that they already saw that a war was coming because a mirror reflects what you see, so they would have seen a war coming. The poet also used the word smashed, which ofcourse if you assiate it with mirrors, a smashed mirror, could mean bad luck, and with the war coming this was foreshadowing of all the bad luck to come Both poems are set out in an irregular form. The way the stanzas are set out are quite closely packed together. In vultures this could be a sign of the Jews being closely packed in lines waiting to be executed.

In contrast with What Were They Like, the poem is set out as a question and answer form, but the lines are also packed together. Where this could represent all the people who were living together like family and friends huddled into one tiny space to try and escape from the bombs the Americans were dropping. However I think that What Were They Like has a lot more puncuation than Vultures, because I think that the poet wants to make you stop and think about what happened in the Vietnam war.

On the other hand Vultures i think the poet has deliberately used a

lack of puncuation and the effect is to make you want to read it really quick because what happened to the victims in World War 2, was probably a quick process to be killed. I think that not many people like talking about it, but when they do they want it to be over and done with. This writer describes how '' Bitter to the burned mouth ''. This is an example of alliteration, and also a plosive. I think that the poet has used the two writing techniques together to have a much bigger impact on the eader and make them think more about the poem. Also it makes it seem like the poet is angry with what is happening, by the poet using the alliteration it makes it seem like when you are reading it, you are being shouted at, and with you having them certain words shouted at you, you are more likely to remember them. It is also meant to remind us of the Napalm that the Americans dropped on the people of Vietnam In conclusion i think that both poets are writing about war and racism and the serious concequences of both of them.

After I read both of the poems I was really struck by the measures that some people will go throught just to extinguish a whole race of people for not fitting in with their culture or for simply being different. I know racism still goes on today and that wars are happening today, but i dont think that they are to this extinct. I agree with the way the poets wrote the poems with all the language

because it really does make you stop and think that we today are really lucky that we didnt live in those times.