Where I Come from free essay sample

The main idea in the poem is that a person’s character is always formed, at least in part, by the place where he or she is born: â€Å"People are made of places. † Wherever you go in life you will carry with you memories and echoes of your birthplace, whether it is a city, as in the first stanza, or the quiet Canadian countryside where Elizabeth Brewster herself was born in 1922. We are, however, also influenced by the places we have visited. Imagery. Many of the images in this poem are sensory in that they refer to things that we can touch or smell as well as what we can see. The poet begins with images of nature that suggest some of the places that ‘people’ may have visited; ‘hints of jungles or mountains’, ‘sea-gazers’, ‘tropic grace’. The places she describes here are also strongly associated with smells. She quickly introduces images that are associated with cities; ‘smell of smog’, ‘chromium plated offices’, ‘subways crowded at rush hours. We will write a custom essay sample on Where I Come from or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page These images are interspersed with images of nature that is controlled or influenced by man; ‘the almost not smell of tulips’ is drowned by the aforementioned ‘smog’. Nature in the city is ‘tidily plotted’ It is restrained and does not have the freedom to grow wildly behind old buildings like the violets in the second stanza. ‘Guidebooks’ may be a metaphor for the way that we live our lives indicating the amount of instruction and guidance that we require. By contrast, life in a natural environment is simple, instinctive and dependant only on the seasons ‘ice and the breaking of ice. Even art; man’s expression of beauty and truth, is; ‘also tidily plotted. ’ Through her use of imagery, the poet suggests that nature can remain a part of our identity: ‘Where I come from, people carry woods in their minds. ’ The second stanza gives us images of nature in its wild and natural state; ‘acres of pine woods’, ‘chickens†¦clucking aimlessly’, ‘violets grow’, ‘ice’ Although there is evidence of mankind in this stanza; ‘battered schoolhouses,’ it does not inhibit the natural environment; ‘behind which violets grow. The final lines provide a link between nature and the mind (just as Summer Farm does) giving us an image of nature that is refreshing yet possibly suggests that the place in the mind that she is referring to is ‘frosty’ and that perhaps she does not want to go there. ‘Ice and the breaking of ice’ may suggest that something is broken when we move from the city to the country. Diction in the first stanza is mostly negative â₠¬Ëœsmell’ is repeated several times to emphasise her disapproval of the city and the way that it suffocates nature. However, her use of the word ‘grace’ suggests beauty and has religious and sacred connotations. The word ‘cool’ suggests a peacefulness associated with the sea gazers. The words ‘old’ and ‘battered’ in the second stanza provide a direct contrast with the ‘chromium plated’ buildings in stanza one; chromium being the epitome of modern buildings and mankind’s desire for control over the environment. The ‘door’ that the poet refers to in her final lines may symbolise a nostalgic return to childhood and the ‘frosty’ wind may indicate that our memories are not always as idyllic as we remember them to be. There is a duality in tone in this poem; the first stanza is fast paced, busy, the lines are list like and description is sparse – just as nature is sparse in the city. This fast pace suggests organisation and control. In the second stanzas, repetition creates a peaceful, soothing rhythm. The tone is positive when the poet speaks about nature and distinctly negative when she speaks about the city. The poem is structured in three irregular stanzas (11, 8, and 2) with irregular line lengths. The poet often uses enjambment when she refers to nature – perhaps to suggest nature’s freedom and continuous cycles. It also indicates the continuous, seemingly abstract way that thoughts and memories occur; they are not structured or strictly ordered. At other times enjambment allows the reader to focus on one idea before introducing another; ‘smell of subways’ precedes ‘crowded at rush hours’ which falls onto the next line. When she talks about aspects of the city the line ends with punctuation of some sort- suggesting that nature is restricted. Longer lines seem to be used when she talks about nature – there is more description here and again, the line length may indicate the freedom that nature has in the countryside. In absence of a rhyme scheme, alliterative phrase contribute to rhythm; ‘people are made of places’ ‘blueberry bushes ‘and ‘burned out bush’ are given a strong emphatic sound whilst sibilant phrases; ‘carry woods in their minds, †¦ pine woods †¦patches’ contribute to a slow soothing rhythm. The main themes are identity; people being made of places, nature and man; the impact that man has on nature and nature in its natural state.