Vultures

In the greyness and drizzle of one despondent
dawn unstirred by harbingers of sunbreak a vulture
perching high on broken bone of a dead tree nestled close to his mate his smooth bashed-in head, a pebble on a stem rooted in
a dump of gross feathers, inclined affectionately to hers. Yesterday they picked the eyes of a swollen corpse in a water-logged trench and ate the things in its bowel. Full gorged they chose their roost
keeping the hollowed remnant in easy range of cold telescopic eyes ... Strange indeed how love in other ways so particular will pick a corner
in that charnel-house tidy it and coil up there, perhaps even fall asleep - her face
turned to the wall! ...Thus the Commandant at Belsen Camp going home for the day with fumes of human roast clinging rebelliously to his hairy nostrils will stop at the wayside sweet-shop and pick up a chocolate for his tender offspring waiting at home for Daddy's return ... Praise bounteous providence if you will that grants even an ogre a tiny glow-worm tenderness encapsulated in icy caverns of a cruel heart or else despair
for in every germ of that kindred love is lodged the perpetuity of evil.

What the poem is about?

The poem “Vultures” is speaks broadly about life and humanity, using the specific example that evil beings like vultures and the commandant in the Belsen camp are alike, both fighting for survival and happiness.
The vulture, “perching high on broken bone of a dead tree” is fighting for survival by feeding off dead animals. In the same way, the commandant tries to survive by killing innocent people. However, they both have some good in them; the vulture loves the other vulture and the commandant loves his baby.
In the first stanza a very dull and lifeless atmosphere is created.
The poet describes the, “…greyness and drizzle of one despondent of sunbreak” and how the vultures “picked the eyes of a swollen corpse in a water-logged trench”. They eat disgusting food in order to survive. In stanza two, the poet starts to contemplate how love can exist in such an evil infested place, and how love is not affected by evil as seen in the line of the poem “her face turned to the wall!”. In stanza three, it starts with an ellipsis to link the vultures with the commandant of the Belsen Camp. After a day of burning human bodies, the unattractive commandant with hairy nostrils still manages to show his love for his baby. “Tender offspring” makes the children looks as if they are human bodies ready to be burnt. The poem finishes off with the last stanza wrapping up the whole poem. It says in a contemplative tone and asks if we should thank god for the tiny speck of good we find in evil or should we feel despair for the evil that will stay forever.
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 offspring. 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 smallest speck of evil.
The underlying philosophical question of the poem is "Should we rejoice at the presence of good in the least likely of places, or despair at the fact that it the very presence of this good that allows for the perpetuity of evil?".

How this relates to my Radio play?
Content- Based around a father who works as a commandant but then returns home to his family.
Characterisation: Similar to the character of Emmett
Genre-  Based around WW2

This relates to my radio play because it relates very strongly to the character of Emmett on how he is a commdant of a death camp but yet a father and husband when he returns home. Emmett is also fighting for survival which is very similar to the 'Vultures' described throughout this poem. In my radio play Emmett says that he is in the War and doing this job so that Billy and his future grandchildren can have a better life which does show some good in him.