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Where I Come From

Even the "[a]tmosphere of cities," often seen as vast and
SUMMARY anonymous, forges this link between identity and place. It might
be a simple smell—whether of "smog," "factories," or
People are shaped by where they come from. Their
"subways"—that stays with someone from the city, but in some
personalities reflect their native environments, whether
subtle way, it'll shape them forever.
they're from the jungle or the mountains. They might have an
ease or elegance that comes from living in the tropics, or a cool To illustrate their point further, the speaker describes how
stare that comes from living by the sea. A city background, place has shaped their identity. They come from a rural
though totally different, also emanates from people—like the environment—perhaps the New Brunswick of Brewster's own
smell of air pollution, or the almost imperceptible smell of childhood—which often recreates itself in their mind/memory.
springtime tulips; or the way cities parcel nature into neat The speaker, and others from the same place, "carry woods in
squares with fountains in the middle; or that smell of museums, their minds": that is, the woods never leave them, even if they
where art is also organized into neat blocks (complete with leave the woods. Their relationship with that environment is
guidebook); or the smell of industry, as in glue factories or shiny permanent. Rundown farms and schoolhouses, "aimless[]
metallic offices; or the smell of packed metro trains at rush chickens," blueberries growing from burned-out brush—all
hour. have left their psychological mark as well. Perhaps they
manifest themselves as a lasting love of rural life, or a sense of
Where I'm from, people never forget the woods with their vast
hard luck, aimlessness, or stubborn endurance. The effects may
swaths of pine trees. The blueberries growing in fire-scarred
vary, but they can't be avoided altogether.
underbrush. Old wooden farmhouses whose paint is wearing
off, and farmyards with hens and chickens wandering around, From time to time, "A door in the [speaker's] mind blows open"
clucking without purpose. Rundown school buildings with and seems to lead them right back to their wintry native
bright purple flowers blooming behind them. Here, winter and landscape. When this happens, it's as if a "frosty wind from
spring are the mind's two main moods: the icy season, and the fields of snow" suddenly kicks up. Sensory experiences that
season when the ice thaws. may once have seemed trivial (e.g., shivering in cold weather)
turn out to be vividly embedded in the speaker's psyche. And
Suddenly a door opens in my mind, and a cold winter wind
the "frosti[ness]" could also be metaphorical
metaphorical: an emotional
rushes in from snowy fields.
detachment or stoicism, perhaps. Places "make" people in a
range of ways, but they never leave us entirely.
THEMES
Where this theme appears in the poem:

PLACE AND IDENTITY • Lines 1-21

Elizabeth Brewster's "Where I Come From" argues
that "People are made of places"—that is, where NATURAL CYCLES AND MOOD CYCLES
people come from shapes them for the rest of their lives. This
In the second half of "Where I Come From," the
effect doesn't always manifest itself in obvious ways. People
speaker uses details from their own environment to
might only show "hints" of the place that they come from, such
sketch a portrait of life in rural and wild spaces. The portrait is
as a certain look in their eyes or a set of vivid memories they
far from idyllic: it includes references to decay, "aimless[ness],"
carry with them. But environments as varied as jungle,
and survival under harsh conditions. At the same time, it
mountain, coast, and city all express themselves through the
includes elements of stubborn endurance, beauty, and renewal.
people connected to them. In fact, no matter where people go,
The poem implies that the speaker and "people" like her have
they can't escape these roots: their native environment lingers
similar elements in their own psyches: for example, they tend to
with them like an indelible "smell" or aura.
remain resilient through cyclical ups and downs, bouncing back
To the speaker, our environments are more than just a even from hardship, depression, or exhaustion. Moreover, the
background—they're part of the process that forms us as poem suggests that this psychology is an inherent part of living
people. It doesn't matter "how different" these places are: close to nature: moods fluctuate along with nature and the
people retain "hints" of their native environments no matter seasons, especially in places that cycle through seasonal
where life takes them. For example, experiencing beautiful extremes.
tropical weather on a regular basis might encourage more
For people living in rural/wild places, the speaker claims, the
outdoor activity, which in turn builds athleticism and "grace."

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features of the mind mirror the features of the landscape and "tidily plotted." The city prohibits—or tries to
weather. For example, the speaker and others from their area prohibit—spontaneity and wildness. Factories and transport
"carry woods in their minds." This might indicate any number of systems orchestrate people's lives, defining where they go and
things: a lasting kinship with the natural world, a feeling of when they go.
secretiveness or anonymity (since woods are shadowy), or even Rural environments, like the one the speaker's from, are more
a tendency toward dark moods or thoughts. rustic, free, and perhaps even haphazard. The poem doesn't
Later, the speaker claims that, in their native environment, necessarily argue in favor of one environment or the other, but
"Spring and winter / are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the it demonstrates their vast difference. Where the speaker's
breaking of ice." The polarized nature of the seasons, in other from, for instance, farmhouses and schoolhouses fall into
words, causes polarized moods. Like the environment, disrepair. Hens and chickens wander "aimlessly" around yards.
individuals here tend to go through periods of emotional Flowers and blueberries grow in unpredictable places. In other
chilliness, introversion, and/or depression, which eventually words, there's less of a plan, less pressure to harness every inch
turn back to warmth and openness, like the "breaking of ice." of ground for a prescribed purpose. Again, the poem isn't
Living in this setting, the speaker suggests, requires a claiming this mode of life is better or worse—it's just utterly
determination to survive through both environmental and different from the city, to the point where it produces very
emotional extremes. Symbolically
Symbolically, details like the "blueberry different kinds of people.
patches in the burned-out bush" and the "battered
schoolhouses / behind which violets grow" evoke a stubborn Where this theme appears in the poem:
resilience and renewal under harsh conditions. Life "batter[s]" • Lines 1-19
and sometimes even burns out people living in such places, but
they soldier on regardless.
The deteriorating farms, "aimless[] chickens," and so on mark
the speaker's psyche as well. Rural life forces people to accept a
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
certain degree of mess and sprawl (the opposite of those tidy LINES 1-3
city squares in the first stanza
stanza). This attitude, in turn, breeds a
hard-won, often wild kind of strength and beauty—like those People are made ...
violets growing behind the rundown schoolhouse. ... eyes of sea-gazers.
"Where I Come From" starts with a clear statement of its core
Where this theme appears in the poem: idea: "People are made of places." In other words, the place
where someone "Come[s] From" isn't just an incidental part of
• Lines 12-21 their history. It defines and shapes them, and it never leaves
them, no matter how far they travel. The alliter
alliteration
ation between
"P
People" and "p places" binds these two words together,
RURAL VS. URBAN LIFE
underscoring how inseparable place and identity are.
"Where I come from" contrasts two starkly different
Metaphorically
Metaphorically,, people "carry with them" these "hints" of where
environments: the city and the countryside. The
they're from—these little clues or signals, which aren't always
speaker shows how both have distinct ways of treating
especially obvious. Environments as varied as "jungles or
nature—the former taming and restricting it into neat little
mountains" show up in the personalities of their inhabitants.
squares, the latter letting it grow wild. The city imposes more
For example, a tropical place (somewhere with consistently
structure, whereas the countryside is freer and less polished.
warm weather) might grant someone "a tropic grace." This
And the city treats people in much the same way, the poem
might mean a physical grace or an easygoing, relaxed character
implies, regimenting and repressing life in a way the
or way of being. (It's easier to become both relaxed and athletic
countryside doesn't.
in climates that are sunny, beautiful, and friendly to outdoor
Unlike the rural setting where the speaker comes from, the big activities.)
city imposes its authority and control on the environment. For
In a similar way, "sea-gazers" might look at the world with "cool
example, the "smell of smog" (and other city aromas) almost
eyes." The cool temperature of the sea and sea-breeze might
completely covers the delicate smell of tulips. More generally,
change how coastal people view life, limiting the sunny
the city tames and limits nature, "tidily plott[ing]" it "with a
optimism that warmer places encourage. The sea is also a kind
guidebook" and organizing it into little squares.
of paradox, always changing yet always the same, so staring at it
These details reflect a wider pattern: the urban environment might give coastal people a "cool," detached wisdom about the
tries to control its inhabitants, too. In a city, everything has its nature of existence.
permitted place. Museums display art, which, like nature, is

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The speaker doesn't tell the reader precisely how such places First of these is a "museum smell." The speaker doesn't go into
make people. The poem is more of an invitation to consider the detail on this smell, but, in a way, that's the point. Museum-
idea—including how it applies to them and people they know. going city dwellers can conjure up exactly what that fragrance
is like (at least, in their local museum). The phrase is suggestive
LINES 3-7 enough as is without further explanation, and it gets at the
Atmosphere of cities ... singular, ineffable quality certain places have.
... in the centre; Next, there's the fact that art, like nature, is "tidily plotted" in
After the caesur
caesuraa following "sea-gazers" in line 3, the poem the city (line 8). That is, it's drained of spontaneity, arranged in
changes tack. The opening lines mentioned a variety of places, museums for tourists to browse with the help of "guidebook[s]."
but they were all natural environments: jungle, mountain, In general, urban planners seek to control what happens within
tropics, and coastline. Here and for the rest of the stanza, the the city's borders, marking out spaces for specific purposes
speaker focuses on built-up urban environments. The point is rather than letting humanity and nature range freely. The
the same: where you're from makes you who you are. Now, repetition of "tidily plotted" (the phrase also appears in line 6)
however, the poem subtly teases out differences between the mirrors the repetitiveness of the city environment—for
city and other environments. example, the way it's gridded into monotonous squares.
The atmosphere of cities, though massively "different" from Lines 9-11 list other city experiences that, over time, might help
jungles and the like, still shows up in people's character, shape someone's identity. There's the "smell of work, glue
memories, and lifestyles. It "drops" from them, or emanates factories maybe," a marker of the industrial activity that often
from them, like an aura or scent. In fact, much of the rest of the takes place in urban environments. (If you grew up next to such
stanza uses olfactory—smell-based—imageryimagery to describe how a factory, the smell of glue might take you back there every
the city might stay with someone. It does this in vague, almost time!) The speaker also mentions "chromium-plated offices"
dreamy terms; the speaker never spells out exactly how a smell and the "smell of subways / crowded at rush hours": evidence
might make someone who they are, perhaps because they don't of the commuters and white-collar workers who tend to fill
believe they have all the answers. But the effect is no less cities as well. Alliter
Alliteration
ation accentuates the phrase "ssmell of
powerful for being intangible. subways," subtly conveying the intensity of that rush-hour odor.
The "smell of smog," for example, might be a formative part of (Compare "ssmell of smog" in line 4.)
someone's urban life. Notice how that hissing /s/ alliter
alliteration
ation This deep dive into the urban world sets up the next stanza,
("ssmell of smog") makes the smell seem faintly overbearing and which juxtaposes the city with the speaker's rural hometown.
unpleasant. By contrast, the smell of city "tulips in the spring" is Notice, though, that the poem doesn't openly criticize the city.
so overpowered by other odors (like smog) that it's nearly True, the speaker seems a little wary of all the smells, as well as
undetectable: an "almost-not-smell." But even that the tameness and "tidi[ness]" of urban planning. But these are
experience—of being only just able to smell the flowers—subtly mainly sketch-like observations, illustrating the various ways
shapes people's lives. For example, it might encourage them to cities might impress themselves on people's sense of self.
find and appreciate beauty in unlikely places.
LINES 12-14
In general, cities—and those who run them—try to tame nature.
Everything in a city has its prescribed zone, leaving little room Where I come ...
for wildness or unpredictability. Nature is "tidily plotted in little ... the burned-out bush;
squares / with a fountain in the centre." It's always regulated In the second stanza
stanza, the speaker talks specifically about where
and monitored, given its small portion of land but no more. (The they come from. Having offered examples of how various
poem later contrasts this regularity with a more unruly natural places—particularly cities—might shape identity, the speaker
environment.) City dwellers might have a similarly regulated now discusses how their rural hometown has shaped theirs.
relationship with nature, using it as a kind of escape once in a The sudden use of the first-person pronoun—"Where I come
while rather than maintaining a deep, daily connection to it. from"—signals this change of direction.
The speaker has two main aims throughout this stanza:
LINES 7-11
museum smell, ... 1. To support and expand on the poem's opening
... at rush hours. statement that "People are made of places."
The speaker continues describing a city environment, mostly 2. To draw out differences between the city and the
through olfactory imagery
imagery. The speaker, who comes from a countryside.
small rural town (as revealed in the following stanza
stanza), imagines
the kind of experiences that might be formative for someone In just a few finely-sketched details, the poem gives the reader
from the city. an evocative sense of the speaker's hometown or region.

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Though no geographical setting is specified, this stanza most suggest neglect? Is the farming industry in decline here? The
likely describes the landscape of New Brunswick, the Canadian poem intentionally holds back from answering questions like
province where Brewster herself comes from. (It's a place she these.
mentioned often in her writing.) The image of "hens and chickens circl[ing] about / clucking
"Where I come from," according to the speaker, "people / carry aimlessly" might symbolize a more general lack of purpose.
woods in their minds, acres of pine woods." Growing up around Perhaps this town and region are adrift (e.g., due to economic
pine forests ensures these trees always stay present in the decline). Again, however, that's only one way of reading the
mind: they leave a deep impression. These "woods" might also image; the speaker isn't prescriptive.
come with some symbolism attached: for example, they might Like the farmhouses, the town's "schoolhouses" have seen
represent shadowy, secretive regions of the psyche or better days. They're "battered," perhaps by extreme weather.
emotions. But they're also a kind of hiding place "behind which" beautiful
Line 14 adds further visual imagery
imagery: "blueberry patches in the "violets" bloom. Like the blueberries in line 14, these violets
burned-out bush." As with the imagery in the first stanza, the flourish under difficult circumstances. In this way, they might
speaker offers very little explanation here. How does the sight symbolize the resilience of people from the area, who survive
of these blueberries affect the speaker now? Why is the bush and perhaps thrive against the odds.
"burned-out"—from the sun? a fire? (Blueberry bushes are The speaker then links the region's psychology with its weather,
sometimes purposely cleared with controlled fires to promote using a seasonal metaphor:
new growth.) The poem's openness to interpretation perhaps
suggests that "People are made of places" in idiosyncratic [...] Spring and winter
ways—that is, no two are "made" alike, even if they come from are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the breaking of
the same area. ice.
Again, this detail might be read symbolically as well. Perhaps
the vivid blueberries, growing out of fire-scarred brush, This rural environment basically has a warm season and a cold
represent a kind of hard-won beauty or survival. Indeed, much season. These are also "the mind's chief seasons": that is, the
of the imagery in this stanza suggests nature's stubborn polarized climate creates polarized moods in the people who
determination to thrive under harsh conditions. By extension, endure it. Things are always in a state of either decay or
the people who live here might be forced to survive and flourish renewal. Like "ice" forming and "breaking," people in the region
under difficult circumstances. feel withdrawn and emotionally cold at times, only to relax and
Note how alliter
alliteration
ation (and consonance
consonance) brings line 14 to life: open up toward the world again. (These mood cycles might
literally follow the climate cycle, as seasonal depression sets in
blueb
berry patches in the burned-out bush; during the winter, then lifts.) The repetition of "ice" emphasizes
that spring and winter are sides of the same coin: one season
Those plosive /b/ sounds jump out at the reader like little hands on the baton to the other, year after year.
shocks of blue against an otherwise gray, "burned-out" LINES 20-21
landscape.
A door in ...
LINES 15-19 ... fields of snow.
wooden farmhouses, old, ... The third and final stanza is just two lines long. Its form,
... breaking of ice. content, and tone set it apart from the previous stanzas. Think
From line 15 through the caesur
caesuraa in line 18 ("with yards [...] of the poem as having three stages:
which violets grow"), the speaker describes their region in
greater detail. It's a rural environment in which life seems 1. The first stanza establishes the poem's premise
unhurried, perhaps even lacking in clear purpose. In other ("People are made of places").
words, it's nothing like the fast-paced, highly regulated "cities" 2. The second discusses this place-identity
relationship in a more personal way.
described in the first stanza.
3. The third gets even more personal, demonstrating
For example, the speaker's region contains "wooden that relationship in action.
farmhouses, old, in need of paint." These suggest the presence
of a farming industry, presumably long-running and multi- The closing couplet presents an unsettling, mysterious
generational ("old"). But the fact that the houses need "paint" is metaphor
metaphor. A door "blows open" in the speaker's mind,
a little ambiguous. Do aesthetics in this small town matter less figuratively speaking, and a "frosty wind" blows in. Two things
than they might in a glittering city, or does the lack of paint might be happening here:

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• A memory might be taking the speaker by surprise. did. (Brewster laments this exact phenomenon in another poem
They might be recalling their native landscape inspired by New Brunswick, "Riv River
er Song
Song.") The "hens and
vividly and without warning. Sensory experiences chickens circl[ing] about / clucking aimlessly" convey boredom
like that "wind," which are deeply rooted in a and purposelessness (which the beauty of blueberries and
particular place, have such a profound impact that violets partly counteracts). It's also worth noting that nature
they can return powerfully at any moment. seems freer here than in its "tidily plotted" squares in the city.
• This might be more of a mood than a memory. With that freedom comes a certain amount of grit and danger.
Maybe the speaker experiences a feeling of
depression or emptiness, and that feeling evokes
Where this symbol appears in the poem:
the harsh winter climate they know so well.
• Lines 12-18: “Where I come from, people / carry woods
Either way, those snowy fields can never be unseen or unfelt. in their minds, acres of pine woods; / blueberry patches
They'll always be a part of the speaker—just as sand would be in the burned-out bush; / wooden farmhouses, old, in
for those who grew up in or near a desert. The repetition of need of paint, / with yards where hens and chickens
"blows" makes the wind sound all the more forceful and circle about, / clucking aimlessly; battered schoolhouses
inescapable: / behind which violets grow.”

A door in the mind blows open, and there blows

SPRING AND WINTER
a frosty wind from fields of snow.
Lines 18-19 describe the psychological makeup of
Long /o/ assonance imposes itself here too: "bloows open [...] people who come from the speaker's hometown:
blo
ows [...] sno
ow". The open /o/ sound supports the image of an
"open" door—a kind of breach occurring in the speaker's mind. [...] Spring and winter
Are the mind’s chief seasons: ice and the breaking of
The poem's refusal to explain what this sensation means makes
ice.
it all the more unnerving. In general, the poem never spells out
how the speaker was "made" by the place they came from. The
The poet is drawing on the traditional symbolism associated
ambiguity is deliberate and meant to stimulate the imagination.
with these two times of year. Spring typically suggests
What's clear, however, is that the speaker's region still has a
optimism, new growth, and letting go of the past. Winter is
defining—sometimes disturbing—impact on their psyche. And it
associated with bleakness, loneliness, sorrow, and loss. The
always will, because "People are made of places."
equivalent moods seem to hit people from the speaker’s town
in a regular cycle. Notice how the speaker connects both
SYMBOLS moods with "ice," suggesting that they're interdependent—two
sides of the same character and environment. An emotional
chill settles over the town, then the chill thaws ("break[s]") into
THE SPEAKER'S HOMETOWN sunnier, more optimistic spirits.
The speaker offers very little explanation of the In the last stanza, that "frosty" winter feeling comes over the
poem's main idea—that "People are made of places." speaker, blowing “A door in the mind” wide open. The fact that it
Instead, the poem offers imagery that depicts a particular rushes in so forcefully suggests that it's a sudden intrusion—a
place, and leaves it up to the reader to consider how these feeling they'd rather not feel, perhaps, but have no control over.
details support the speaker's claim. Several of these details
have symbolic meaning. Where this symbol appears in the poem:
For example, the "woods"—"acres" and acres of them—are
• Lines 20-21: “A door in the mind blows open, and there
associated with remoteness, loneliness, wildness, and
blows / a frosty wind from fields of snow.”
anonymity. At the same time, the "blueberry patches in the
burned-out bush" (line 14) and the "battered schoolhouses /
behind which violets grow" (lines 17-18) evoke resilience and
renewal in the face of hardship. In both cases, nature finds a POETIC DEVICES
way to survive and even thrive amid a derelict environment.
This, in turn, might suggest that the people here, too, find little ALLITERATION
pockets of beauty and joy in difficult circumstances. "Where I Come From" uses alliter
alliteration
ation at a few choice
The "battered" appearance of the buildings suggests suffering moments, highlighting key images and linking words and
and neglect—perhaps fewer people live here than they once concepts together.

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The poem starts by clearly stating—and alliterating!—its main The point, perhaps, is that city dwellers must cope with
idea. The /p/ sounds in "P
People are made of places" create a constant sensory stimuli in order to survive daily existence.
bond between the two nouns, reinforcing the claim that place The second stanza is also full of imagery, but it paints a
and personality are linked. completely different picture. Here, the poem focuses on where
The rest of the stanza then paints an evocative picture of city the speaker comes from: a small rural town. (Note that
life, focusing especially on smell: "ssmell of smog [...] smell of numerous Brewster poems take her native New Brunswick as
subways." Repeated /s/ sounds intensify these phrases, perhaps their setting
setting.) This imagery is mostly visual and evokes an
reflecting the intensity of the odors themselves. unhurried way of life, in contrast with the urban environment.
In the second stanza, which focuses on rural life, the speaker The buildings need painting, and there aren't many people
describes "b
blueberry patches in the burned-out bush" (line 14). around, just "hens and chickens [...] clucking aimlessly."
Those plosive /b/ sounds pop out of the lines, mimicking the "Blueberry patches" appear "in the burned-out bush"; "violets
vivid growth of blueberries against the grayish backdrop of fire- grow" behind "battered schoolhouses." Decay and growth exist
scarred shrubbery. That same sound reappears in lines 17-18, side by side, as nature more or less runs wild (it's not "tidily
in the phrase "b
battered schoolhouses / behind which violets plotted in little squares"). The speaker doesn't specify how this
grow." Here, the forceful /b/ sounds suggest the way weather rural scene would shape someone's character, but symbolically
symbolically,
has beaten and scarred the building, while again highlighting an it hints at a certain freedom and resilience.
image of growth amid destruction. The poem's final stanza, though partly a metaphor
metaphor, also
In the final lines, alliteration helps the speaker describe a contains imagery. It describes a sudden memory in which the
memory (or vision) of winter wind: speaker's hometown winters come rushing back to them,
"frosty" and full of "snow." No matter where the speaker goes, it
A door in the mind blows open, and there blows seems, those harsh seasons will always be a part of them. The
a frosty wind from fields of snow. poem leaves the image to stick in the reader's mind just as it
haunts the speaker's mind.
This is a fricative sound, meaning the mouth has to expel air to
make it. This effect subtly evokes the rush of "frosty" air and Where Imagery appears in the poem:
makes the imagined scene all the more visceral. • Lines 2-3
• Lines 4-11
Where Alliter
Alliteration
ation appears in the poem: • Lines 14-18
• Lines 20-21
• Line 1: “People,” “places”
• Line 4: “different drops,” “smell,” “smog”
• Line 10: “smell,” “subways” METAPHOR
• Line 14: “blueberry,” “burned-out bush” The speaker uses metaphor to present and develop the poem's
• Line 17: “battered” core idea—that identity is strongly linked to place. In the first
• Line 18: “behind” line, for example, the speaker could have simply said "Places
• Line 21: “frosty,” “from fields” influence people." Framing this idea in figur
figurativ
ativee terms—as
"People are made of places"—makes it more intriguing and
IMAGERY evocative, inviting readers to wonder how environments might
The poem bursts with imagery from start to finish, as it brings become the building blocks of character. The next two lines
various "places" to life on the page. Through sight, sound, smell, expand on this metaphor, imagining one's home environment as
and touch imagery, the speaker evokes the experiences and a kind of baggage—not necessarily negative!— "carr[ied]" from
sensations that shape these places' inhabitants. place to place.

The imagery in the first stanza focuses on "cities," portraying The speaker develops this idea further in the second stanza,
them as busy, intense, and tightly organized. Both nature and talking more directly about their own experience of place and
art are "tidily plotted" here—that is, tamed and controlled. identity. People from the speaker's area "carry woods in their
Most of this stanza's imagery is smell-based (olfactory): "the minds": a variation on the idea in lines 1-3. The woods stay with
smell of smog [...] the almost-not-smell of tulips in the spring [...] the speaker wherever they go; they're part of the speaker's
museum smell [...] the smell of work, glue factories maybe, smell psychological makeup.
of subways." In the speaker's account, then, the city is an In lines 18-19, the speaker introduces a seasonal metaphor,
overwhelming and heady mix of odors, many of them again to describe how their home environment affects the
unpleasant. Naming all these different odors one after the psyche:
other conveys the overall intensity of the urban experience.

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[...] Spring and winter [...] Spring and winter
are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the breaking of are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the breaking of
ice. ice
ice.

The environment, then, is in a continual state of flux between Though these lines distinguish between "Spring and winter,"
decay and new growth—which, for people, might translate to they define both by their relationship to "ice." The speaker's
pessimism and optimism. Maybe locals here go through periods native environment swings back and forth between freeze and
of difficulty, isolation, and depression, which, when the sun thaw. A similar cycle takes place within the minds and hearts of
comes out and the ice starts to thaw, turn to warmth, those who live there. Pessimism and optimism, emotional
connection, and hope. It's hard to define this relationship chilliness and emotional warmth, are two sides of the same
precisely, and that's not the speaker's aim; they mainly want to coin.
affirm the link between place and identity. Line 20 then repeats the word "blows" as part of a figurative
The last stanza describes how the speaker's home environment description:
continues to affect them. A metaphorical "door in the mind"
blows open: that is, a thought or feeling comes on suddenly, A door in the mind blows open, and there blows
unexpectedly, and forcefully. The speaker feels a "frosty wind" a frosty wind from fields of snow.
in their mind: a particular mood or sensation returning when
they least expect it. Perhaps the speaker is having a literal flash The speaker notes that memories of their hometown, or native
of memory, rooted in the wintry scenes of childhood. Or landscape, can come back to them as suddenly as a wind
perhaps the speaker is feeling a sudden emotional chill (e.g., fear "blow[ing]" through the "mind." The diacope here suggests both
or sadness). The strange, dreamy logic of this metaphor reflects intensity and surprise: that "door in the mind" opens with the
the mysterious relationship between "People" and "places." force of a revelation.
One can't pin down this relationship, exactly, but in moments
like this one, it certainly feels powerful. Where Repetition appears in the poem:
• Line 1: “People”
Where Metaphor appears in the poem:
• Line 4: “smell”
• Lines 1-3: “People are made of places. They carry with • Line 5: “smell”
them / hints of jungles or mountains, a tropic grace / or • Line 6: “tidily plotted”
the cool eyes of sea-gazers.” • Line 7: “smell”
• Lines 12-13: “Where I come from, people / carry woods • Line 8: “tidily plotted”
in their minds, acres of pine woods;” • Line 9: “smell”
• Lines 18-19: “Spring and winter / are the mind's chief • Line 10: “smell”
seasons: ice and the breaking of ice.” • Line 12: “people”
• Lines 20-21: “A door in the mind blows open, and there • Line 19: “ice,” “ice”
blows / a frosty wind from fields of snow.” • Line 20: “blows,” “blows”

REPETITION
Repetition appears in various forms in "Where I Come From." VOCABULARY
For starters, it's baked into the poem's structure. The first two
stanzas each begin with a metaphorical statement about the Tropic (Lines 1-2) - Characteristic of the hot, humid climate
relationship between people and places. The repetition of found in regions near the equator.
"People" (lines 1 and 12) aligns the two stanzas, indicating that Grace (Lines 1-2) - Elegance (of movement, manners, etc.) and/
the second develops the ideas in the first. or kindness.
Within the first stanza, the word "smell" appears five times. The Smog (Line 4) - Air pollution; fumes from traffic, industry, etc.
poem imposes this one word on its reader as relentlessly as the Plotted (Line 6, Line 8) - Arranged methodically; planned out.
city foists its odors on the public. Through repetition, in other
words, the word "smell" becomes as intense and inescapable as Chromium (Line 10) - A metal used in stainless steel.
city smells themselves. "Chromium-plated" means that this metal is part of the
structure of the "office[]" buildings.
In the second and third stanzas, the poem uses diacope
diacope. In lines
18-19, this device draws a connection between two Battered (Lines 17-18) - Damaged and shabby.
metaphorical "seasons" in the mind: Violets (Lines 17-18) - Small bluish-purple flowers. Violets are

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the official floral emblem of New Brunswick, the Canadian A door in the mind blows open, and there blows
province where Brewster grew up. a frosty wind from fields of snow
snow.
Chief (Lines 18-19) - Main; most significant.
The imperfect rhyme between "blows" and "snow" chimes with
the long /o/ assonance in "bloows open." This cascade of /o/
FORM, METER, & RHYME sounds gives the couplet extra punch, evoking the sudden
arrival of the "frosty wind" in the speaker's mind.
FORM
"Where I Come From" has three stanzas of unequal length:
eleven, eight, and two lines (a couplet
couplet), respectively.
SPEAKER
Both the first and second stanzas start with a bold The speaker comes from a rural area, where decay and natural
metaphorical statement, followed by concrete imagery growth exist side by side. A "burned-out bush" hides patches of
supporting that statement. Though these two stanzas deal with blueberries; violets bloom behind "battered schoolhouses." The
contrasting material—urban and rural environments, speaker doesn't pinpoint where this area is, but it could well be
respectively—they argue the same point: that where people in Brewster's native New Brunswick.
come from shapes who they are. In the first stanza
stanza, the speaker reveals little about their own
The three stanzas also present three angles on the poem's identity. They express a general truth about how "places" shape
material, with the poem becoming narrower and more personalities, then illustrate this truth with reference to urban
subjective as it goes on. The first stanza describes people in sights and sounds. In the second stanza, they get more
general, all of whom are "made of places." The second talks personal, evoking the atmosphere of their hometown and
more specifically about people from rural environments, like describing how it affects residents.
the one where the speaker grew up. The third and shortest In the third stanza, that rural world seems to rush back to the
stanza presents a particular psychological experience that ties speaker in "a frosty wind" of memory. This ending offers a
in with stanza two. Here, the speaker offers a glimpse of what further glimpse into the speaker's psychological landscape,
it's like to come from their wintry region—how a "frosty wind" where polarized moods seem to rotate through the "mind" like
always seems to blow somewhere in "the mind." "seasons." To some extent, it seems, the speaker's temperament
is metaphorically "frosty" (as in hardhearted? stoic?). But the
METER
speaker never really clarifies how place informs identity—they
"Where I Come From" uses free vverse
erse—that is, no traditional leave the idea open for readers to consider.
meter
meter.
The absence of meter contributes to the poem's fairly informal
tone
tone, which fits the speaker's approach to their subject. Though SETTING
the first two stanzas start with bold statements—that "People
"Where I Come From" touches on a number of settings in order
are made of places" and that people from the speaker's
to illustrate its main idea: that "People are made of places."
environment "carry woods in their minds"—the poem never
says definitively how these processes work. To the speaker, the In lines 2-3, for example, the speaker mentions "jungles [...]
connection between place and identity seems undeniable, yet mountains" as well as "a tropic grace / or the cool eyes of sea-
intensely subjective. The lack of strict meter helps ensure that gazers." Four different environments, and the poem has only
the poem remains an exploration of its subject, not a neatly just started! But the speaker's point is that wherever
structured argument. someone's from, the place will shape them somehow, even in
ways as subtle as body language. The speaker then describes
RHYME SCHEME yet another environment: the big city. Here, they rely mostly on
The poem uses free vverse
erse, so it has no rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme. Its loose smell imagery (e.g. the "smell of smog" and the "smell of
form seems to reflect the roughness of the landscape "Where I subways"), reinforcing the idea that places cling to people like a
Come From," as well as the mysterious, unpredictable process subtle aura or "Atmosphere."
by which "People are made of places." (The speaker doesn't The second stanza balances out this "city" focus by describing
pretend to know how environment shapes character—they just where the speaker's from. This setting is rural, rundown, and
know instinctively, and from experience, that it does.) nearly empty. On the other hand, it's a less restrictive,
Notice, though, that the poem does end with a semi-rhyming regulated place, and it has its touches of beauty: "blueberr[ies]"
couplet (lines 20-21): and "violets" growing from fire-scarred brush and behind
dilapidated schoolhouses. Even as the poem contrasts these
two environments, it shows that they're equally formative for

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 Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com
the people who grow up there. rapidly changing economy, as many younger residents left for
Where the speaker grew up, there are two main "seasons" that the country's main urban centers.
stamp the psyche: Again, however, the poem doesn't identify its setting by name.
It's only partly about the speaker's hometown; its main aim is to
Spring and winter demonstrate the intimate connection between "people" and
are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the breaking of "places."
ice.

Like the landscape, then, the people here always seem to be in a MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
state of either decay or renewal, emotional chilliness or
emotional warmth. EXTERNAL RESOURCES
• More b
byy the Author — Dive into more work by Elizabeth
Brewster. (https:/
(https:///canlit.ca/canlit_authors/elizabeth-
CONTEXT brewster/)
•
LITERARY CONTEXT •
Elizabeth Brewster was born in 1922 in New Brunswick, • Brewster's "Fiddlehead" Obituary — Read a write-up
Canada, and grew up in a small logging town called Chipman. about the poet in the magazine she helped establish.
She wrote poetry from an early age and was involved in setting (https:/
(https:///thefiddlehead.ca/content/elizabeth-
up The Fiddlehead, one of Canada's foremost literary magazines. brewster-1922-2012)
Brewster worked at various Canadian universities throughout
her career and died in 2012. • The PPoet's
oet's Life and W
Work
ork — An obituary and retrospective
via The Globe and Mail.
Brewster was influenced by modernists like T. S. Eliot and Ezra (https:/
(https://www
/www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/obituary-
.theglobeandmail.com/arts/obituary-
Pound but also took her identity as a Canadian poet seriously. elizabeth-brewsters-journe
elizabeth-brewsters-journey-of-self-a
y-of-self-awareness-led-to-
wareness-led-to-
Referencing Pound's famous dictum—that poets should "make prolific-poetry-career/article8226920/)
it [their work] new"—she once said that: "I cannot make it new,
but I can make it Canadian." Indeed, place, and specifically her • Where Brewster Comes F From
rom — Learn about the poet's
native New Brunswick, is a vital part of Brewster's work. native New Brunswick at Encyclopedia Britannica.
"Where I Come From," which appears in Brewster's 1977 book (https:/
(https://www
/www.britannica.com/place/New-Brunswick-
.britannica.com/place/New-Brunswick-
Sometimes I Think of Moving, is one of many Brewster poems pro
province
vince))
that focus on New Brunswick (others include "Woman on a • "P
"Poetry
oetry and Audience
Audience"" — Read an article by Brewster
Bus: In New Brunswick Woods" and "River Song"). Readers about the nature of her craft (PDF download).
might also want to check out Fred Cogswell's "New
New Brunswick
Brunswick." (https:/
(https://www
/www.google.com/
.google.com/
Note, though, that the poem doesn't name New Brunswick url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&v
url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEw
ed=2ahUKEw
explicitly. Instead, it keeps its setting ambiguous (and thus, jPgJT
jPgJTs1I3W
s1I3W-PRWTb&opi=89978449)
-PRWTb&opi=89978449)
perhaps, more broadly relatable), capturing the hold that
people's environments in general exert over their minds.
HOW T
TO
O CITE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Brewster was part of a mid-20th-century cultural movement MLA
that aimed to capture the identity and character of Canada. Howard, James. "Where I Come From." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22
Her work strives to make a record of places threatened with Jun 2023. Web. 7 Jul 2023.
extinction (or profound alteration) in an increasingly globalized
world. It chronicles a shift away from small, tight-knit CHICAGO MANUAL
communities toward ever-expanding cities—the kind warily Howard, James. "Where I Come From." LitCharts LLC, June 22,
described in the first stanza here. 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/
The second stanza, meanwhile, describes dilapidated elizabeth-brewster/where-i-come-from.
"farmhouses" and "schoolhouses": symptoms of neglect. In the
late 20th century, Canadian farms, fishing villages, and logging
towns—like the one Brewster grew up in—all suffered under a

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