Where I Come From - Poetry Analysis - Elizabeth Brewster

?
  • Created by: mrabomar
  • Created on: 17-05-15 09:30
View mindmap
  • Where I Come From
    • structure
      • 3 stanzas
        • free structure
        • uneven length
        • no rhyme scheme
          • to disrespect organization in the city
      • indentation
        • second stanza made to follow the first
          • to show how a rural area is  continuation of an urban area, but is still different
            • to show that each area depends on the other
              • rural provide raw materials
              • urban sell tham as goods
          • change from third person to first person to make a more abrupt change
            • not very intense change as 'I' is only used once in the whole poem
              • this change is only notable in the first verse
                • the rest of stanza 2 is description
        • third stanza is not a continuation of second one
          • author's personal ideas about her childhood
    • stanza 1
      • "people are made of places"
        • author gives her theory of the world
          • people are formed by their past
            • they carry the places they have lived in with them
        • the author is focusing more on physical aspect not moral
      • "hints of jungles and mountins, a tropic graced, or the cool eyes of sea gazers"
        • exotic examples compared to later description of the city
      • "smell of smog or the almost-not-smell of tulips in the spring"
        • smog has no smell
          • absence of smell of nature
        • tulips have a natural scent
          • covered by smog
            • smog has no smell
              • absence of smell of nature
        • comparing smells of nature and city
      • "nature tidily plotted in little squares"
        • as though plotted too be attacked by hummans
        • humans try to control nature although it isn't meant to be tidy
      • negative images of all man-made things
    • stanza 2
      • from impersonal to personal
        • mind and memories of author
      • nature is in contrast to man-made items
        • sense of exotic nature quiet and loneliness
        • lack of organisation
          • chicken's movement
            • although they have a chance of freedom they choose to circle
          • free animals and plants
      • negative side of nature
        • chickens' aimless movement and clucking
          • chicken's movement
            • although they have a chance of freedom they choose to circle
        • broken down place
          • schoolhouses, farmhouses etc
            • "behind which violets grow"
              • nature has taken over
      • "spring and winter are the mind's chief seasons
        • now focusing on author's thoughts
        • longest seasons in Canada
        • correspond to birth, rebirth and death
          • reinforced by the idea of "ice and breaking of ice"
            • life and breaking of life
    • stanza 3
      • snow is loved in Canada
      • memories of childhood
    • Elizabeth Brewster
      • born August 26 1922 in canada
        • died December 26 2012 in canada

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Poetry resources »