From the title of poem, we can assume that Elizabeth Brewster’s ‘Where I Come From’ is about _________________________ Although the opening line ‘People are made of places’ can be loosely described as form of alliteration, the repetition of the ‘p’ sound is particularly effective because it creates the impression that ______________________ . Brewster goes on to describe the ‘Atmosphere of cities’ which is created be various distinctive smells such as ‘ ‘, ‘ ‘ , ‘ ‘ ,‘ ‘ and ‘ ‘. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight and sound, suggests that it is the speaker’s memory of city-life and this is sharply contrasted in the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grew up. I think the line _______________________________ has a strong impact on the reader because__________________.
The second part of the poem is about the place where she grows up and she provides us with some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as ____________________ and __________________. The line ‘Spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons’ reinforces the contrast established in the poem between town and rural life, though there is a change experienced in the final two lines. ‘A door in the mind blows open’ suggest that _____________________
English Language and Literature 
Where I Come From – Elizabeth Brewster
From the title of the poem, we can assume that Elizabeth Brewster’s “Where I Come From” is about the place or places where the writer was born in or where she spent her whole childhood. We also assume that she is going to describe, tell memories and her opinion about the completely different places. Although the opening line “People are made of places” can be loosely described as form of alliteration, the repetition of the “p” sound is particularly effective because it creates an effect, which the shortness of sound reinforces the statement by establishing it as a truth. It also grabs the attention of the reader and makes the reader curious to read the rest of the poem. Brewster goes on to describe the “Atmosphere of cities” which is created by various distinctive smells such as “smell of smog”, “almost-not-smell of tulips in the spring”, “museum smell”, “smell of work, glue factories maybe” and “smell of subways crowded at rush hours”. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight and sound, suggests that the speaker’s memory of city-life and this sharply contrasted in the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grew up. I think the line “Where I come from, people carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods” has a strong impact on the reader because the speaker of the poem is starting to describe where she is from, how different and how better it is compared to the city-life. The writer also begins to idealizes farm-life. Brewster makes it sound much better than it really is. The second part of the poem is about the place where she grows up and she provides us with some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as “wooden farmhouses, old, in need of paint” and “with yards where hens and chickens circle about”. The line “Spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons” reinforces the contrast established in the poem between town and rural life, though there is a change experience in the final two lines. “A door in the mind blows open, and there blows a frosty wind from the snow” suggests that a change occurs. The speaker is now in the present. The cold wind stops her thoughts. In the end of the poem the reader realizes that Brewster is mostly talking about nostalgia, affection for the past.
Excellent work Giuliana! It is detailed and well-epxressed. I like how you notice that the final line is in the present tense, and you explain this very well. I also admire how you included your own lines in addition to the ones I provided. Well done.
i like yopur analysis, i will use it for my igcse exams thank u very much
Glad you like it!
Where I Come From – Elizabeth Brewster
From the title of the poem, we can assume that Elizabeth Brewster’s ‘Where I Come From’ is about the different places where people come from, in particularly where the speaker of the poem comes from. Although the opening line ‘People are made of places’ can be loosely described as form of alliteration, the repetition of the ‘p’ sound is particularly effective because it creates the impression that the speaker wants to insist on this short line and it creates a strong effect on the beginning of the poem. It reinforces the statement , establishing it as a truth. Brewster goes on to describe the ‘Atmosphere of cities’ which is created be various distinctive smells such as ‘the almost-not-smell of tulips in the spring’ , ‘museum smell’ , ’smell of work, glue factories maybe’ , ‘smell of subways crowded at rush hours’. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight and sound, suggests that it is the speaker’s memory of city-life and this is sharply contrasted in the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grew up. I think the line ‘Where I come from, people carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods’ has a strong impact on the reader because the speaker starts speaking about herself and she idealises the life and the nature of the farm. The second part of the poem is about the place where she grows up and she provides us with some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as ‘Wooden farmhouses, old, in need of paint’ and ‘with yards where hens and chickens circle about’. The line ‘Spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons’ reinforces the contrast established in the poem between town and rural life, though there is a change experienced in the final two lines. ‘A door in the mind blows open’ suggest that a change occurs. The speaker is now in the present, indeed, the cold wind stops her thoughts.
Marie! I am so impressed with this! You are so quiet, but here it is very clear that you understand the poem and you have expressed yourself really well. Your comment about the last line is excellent!
Where I Come From – Elizabeth Brewster
From the title of poem, we can assume that Elizabeth Brewster’s “Where I Come From” is about comparing the situation between urban area and rural area where she comes from. She is comparing it with the smell of things in the area. Although the opening line ‘People are made of places’ can be loosely describe as form of alliteration, the repetition of the ‘p’ sound is particularly effective because it creates the impression that the shortness of sound reinforces this statement, establishing it as a truth. Brewster goes on to describe the ‘Atmosphere of cities’ which is created by various distinctive smells such as ‘smog’, ’museum’, ‘glue factory’, ‘chromium-plated office’ and ‘subways’. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight and sound, suggest that it is the speaker’s memory of city-life and this sharply contrasted in the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grew up. I think the line ‘Where I come from’ has a strong impact on the reader because it shows a change, and the rest of the poem contrasts to the manmade imagery. The second part of the poem is about the place where she is grows up and she provides us with some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as wooden farmhouse and yards with hens and chickens. The line ‘Spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons’ reinforces the contrast established in the poem between town and rural life, though there is a change experienced in the final two lines. ‘A door in the mind blows open’ suggests that there is a change occurs the speaker is now in the present and the cold wind stops her thoughts.
This is fabulous Intan! You express yourself well, and you show that you have a great understanding of the poem. I really like what you say about the last couple of lines. Keep it up!
May we also infer that “A door in the mind blows open” could be attributed to the fact that she may have some memories that she does not want to recall from childhood? Since spring may be compared to fields and winter to cities, Winter might also be felt in the countryside. Please answer; I might be wrong
Where I Come From – Elizabeth Brewster
From the title of the poem, we can assume that Elizabeth Brewster’s “Where I Come From” is about a place where your heart belongs to, the place where you came from. Although the opening line “People are made of places” can be loosely described as form of alliteration, the repetition of “p” sound is particularly effective because it creates the impression that it really sounds and matches the rhythm for words people and places, you can feel the poem. Brewster goes on to describe the “Atmosphere of cities” which is created be various distinctive smells such as “smell of smog” “museum smell” “smell of work” “smell of glue factories” and “chromium-plated offices”. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight and sound, suggest that it is the speaker’s memory of city-life and this is sharply contrasted in the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grew up. I think the line “carry woods in their minds” has a strong impact on a reader because this line is about Elizabeth’s memory, the way she remembers her home place, and it’s sarcastic. The second part of the poem is about the place where she grows up and she provides us with some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as “woods in their minds” means forest is near or around a place and “with yards where hens and chickens circle about” means that they had chickens and hens, running around freely on the farm territory. The line “spring and winter are the mind’s chief season” reinforces the contrast established in the poem between town and rural life, though there is a change experienced in the final two lines. “A door in the mind blows open” suggest that she was in deep thinking, other world, and when someone opened the door she came back to herself, from other world, the world of mind.
Excellent work Alex as you have really thought about how to finish the topic sentences with purpose and meaning. I am not sure that ‘sarcastic’ is the right word to describe the tone -perhaps you mean nostalgic? Thank you for your thoughtful response!
i will agree with coreachick the analysis looks really good but the word sarcastic is too wide for the poem
Hi there -it is coreachick here -real name Julia Mayer. Yes ‘sarcastic’ wasn’t the best choice of word, but I do think Alex was right in sensing the change in tone.
Where I come from – Elizabeth Brewster
From the title of the poem, we can amuse that Elizabeth Brewster’s where I come from is about
The title is where I come from because se want’s to tell us we are made up out of places. We are made up out of all the things we have done and where we have done it. Later in the poem she tells us where she came from. Although he opening line ‘people are made of places’ can be loosely described as from of alliteration, the repetition of the ‘’p’’ sound is particularly effective because it creates an impression that the sound really matches the rhythm of the poem it actually makes the rhythm. Brewster goes on to describe the ‘atmosphere of cities’ which is created be various distinctive smells such as cow shit, kimchee, and pizza hut. Focusing on smells, rather than on sight it is the speaker’s memory of city-life and this is sharply contrasted. In the next half of the poem which is about nature, and the environment where she grow up. I think the line carry woods in their minds has a strong impact on the reader because, it is sarcastic not realistic so you have to think about it. The second part of the poem is about the place where she grow up and she provides us whit some stereotypical imagery of farm-life such as chickens and wood. The line ‘spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons’ reinforces the contrast established between town and rural life, though there is a change experienced in the final two lines ‘A door in the minds blow open’ suggest that you think everything is so good if you lose/leave it but when you come back it is different.
Thanks Rick -your efforts are much appreciated. One small thing, the smells you listed do not appear in the poem… they were part of a class discussion. I think your analysis of the last line is correct, more or less -at least I can see what your thoughts are!
You did a fantastic job by doing this analysis
Where I come from- Elizabeth Brewster
The first two lines from the first stanza states that people carry some memory of the place they were born in. Anyone could be born in the mountains, jungles, cities or seas. It signifies that Brewster is stating her views after she has visited these places. She also talks about smell,”atmosphere of cities”, “smell of smog”, “almost-not-smell of tulips in spring” which also signifies that the smell of tulips are lost in the smell of smog and other smells. There is just a hint of it too. Then she talks about how nature is cared about people ” nature tidily plotted in little squares. She again switches back to smell ” museum smell” “glue factories maybe” and the “smell of subways at rush hours” which also tells us that she has visited these place very curiously. The \second stanza talks about where she was born or where her childhood passed and gives views of how rural life is better than urban life. She gives a vivid imagery of chickens who are circling about clucking aimlessly. She also gives and imagery of houses which need paint and are old and blueberry patches.The last line brings Brewster to her present and lets the reader know she was thinking and telling about her past