"Where I Come From," by Canadian poet Elizabeth Brewster, appears in the 1977 collection Sometimes I Think of Moving (though the poem itself was written in the 1950s). The poem explores the close relationship between place and identity. No matter where people come from, the poem suggests, their native environment will form an important part of their character and worldview. The speaker explores this idea from several angles, focusing more on their own experience (and rural hometown) as the poem progresses. Brunswick has written numerous poems about the province of New Brunswick, Canada, where she grew up—and the details in the second stanza suggest that this might be the setting here, too.

• Read the full text of “Where I Come From”

• “Where I Come From” Summary

• “Where I Come From” Themes

  • 

    Place and Identity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-21
  • 

    Natural Cycles and Mood Cycles

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 12-21
  • 

    Rural vs. Urban Life

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-19

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Where I Come From”

  • Lines 1-3

    People are made ...
    ... eyes of sea-gazers.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-7

    Atmosphere of cities ...
    ... in the centre;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-11

    museum smell, ...
    ... at rush hours.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-14

    Where I come ...
    ... the burned-out bush;

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-19

    wooden farmhouses, old, ...
    ... breaking of ice.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 20-21

    A door in ...
    ... fields of snow.

    

    

    

    

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• “Where I Come From” Symbols

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    The Speaker's Hometown

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 12-18: “Where I come from, people / carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods; / blueberry patches in the burned-out bush; / wooden farmhouses, old, in need of paint, / with yards where hens and chickens circle about, / clucking aimlessly; battered schoolhouses / behind which violets grow.”
  • 

    Spring and Winter

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 20-21: “A door in the mind blows open, and there blows / a frosty wind from fields of snow.”

• “Where I Come From” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “People,” “places”
    • Line 4: “different drops,” “smell,” “smog”
    • Line 10: “smell,” “subways”
    • Line 14: “blueberry,” “burned-out bush”
    • Line 17: “battered”
    • Line 18: “behind”
    • Line 21: “frosty,” “from fields”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3
    • Lines 4-11
    • Lines 14-18
    • Lines 20-21

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “People are made of places. They carry with them / hints of jungles or mountains, a tropic grace / or the cool eyes of sea-gazers.”
    • Lines 12-13: “Where I come from, people / carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods;”
    • Lines 18-19: “Spring and winter / are the mind's chief seasons: ice and the breaking of ice.”
    • Lines 20-21: “A door in the mind blows open, and there blows / a frosty wind from fields of snow.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “People”
    • Line 4: “smell”
    • Line 5: “smell”
    • Line 6: “tidily plotted”
    • Line 7: “smell”
    • Line 8: “tidily plotted”
    • Line 9: “smell”
    • Line 10: “smell”
    • Line 12: “people”
    • Line 19: “ice,” “ice”
    • Line 20: “blows,” “blows”

• “Where I Come From” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Tropic
  • Grace
  • Smog
  • Plotted
  • Chromium
  • Battered
  • Violets
  • Chief
  • (Location in poem: Lines 1-2: “They carry with them / hints of jungles or mountains, a tropic grace”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Where I Come From”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Where I Come From” Speaker

• “Where I Come From” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Where I Come From”

• More “Where I Come From” Resources

  • External Resources

    • More by the Author — Dive into more work by Elizabeth Brewster.

    • Brewster's "Fiddlehead" Obituary — Read a write-up about the poet in the magazine she helped establish. 

    • The Poet's Life and Work — An obituary and retrospective via The Globe and Mail.

    • Where Brewster Comes From — Learn about the poet's native New Brunswick at Encyclopedia Britannica.

    • "Poetry and Audience" — Read an article by Brewster about the nature of her craft (PDF download).

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