Analytical Essay, Where I Come from

Analytical Essay: Where I Come From

“Where I Come From” is a striking poem written by the talented, twentieth century, Canadian poet, Elizabeth Brewster. In this heartwarming poem, Elizabeth Brewster portrays the creation of the human identity and defines how individuals carry with them a unique essence of where they go and how they are created from their experiences of living in a specific cultural setting. She talks about the lives of “city folk” and of where she was raised, a rural farm area. A great section of this poem may be motivated by her early childhood memories of growing up in countryside Canada. Brewster describes our identities as human beings remarkably, she justifies how people’s personalities depend on where and how they have been raised, also she touches on our lives and lifestyles in urban and rural places. In the beginning of the poem, Brewster starts talking about how people are created. She states that “People are made of places”, by this she attempts to explicate how our identities are made in the world. They are made by where you live and how you live your life. Many things can affect you while you are in those places such as occurrences, incidents, your involvement, decisions, and also the people around you. The things that are around you reflect on who you are, for example your room, the things in your room can say a lot about your individuality, it can represent your culture, your likes and dislikes and it can also signify what type of person you are. Even in the view of what country you are in, if you were in the UK or USA, you may find it a safer area to live in compared to Kenya where your freedom is limited. These different places can also provide you with different personalities; maybe living in the UK can give you more confidence and spontaneity and living in Kenya can give you courage to deal with your complications. The place you live in can also represent who you are in many features like your voice, people have different accents in different places. Places impact your thinking and personality greatly. People are made of places as these places and settings touch every aspect of their life from their trend to their thinking. The vaster section of the first stanza is dedicated to the majority city population. Brewster said “Atmosphere of cities how different drops from them, like the smell of smog… smell of subways crowded at rush hours.” By this she means that people don’t even have the time to appreciate or see their environment. There also is no time to smell the flowers, even though the smell is not as strong because of the pollution, “almost-not-smell of tulips”. I found her view of the busy city not very positive as she is attached to the countryside and she doesn’t mention many good sides of living in the urban atmosphere. She prefers the countryside to the city. The detailed lines in the first stanza show the poet’s opinion of the city, she describes the urban world to be lacking time in a very expressive and vivid style. In the second stanza she finally talks about her origin, however it has a different sense, it is no longer urban but rural. Brewster explains how “people carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods”, by this she means that people care for the nature and appreciate it, they take out time from their daily lives to respect and preserve their environment. Life is not fast-paced and everyone is conservative about their environment and themselves. The rural region is more cared for by the people but not only because it is the duty for the people to care for the environment but because they really love its beauty and they can take the time to do so. A human identity is made for the people who enjoy the peace and nature. In “Where I Come From”, Brewster describes the numerous ways the human identity is formed specifically in the form of a place. The poem distinguishes the urban and the rural lifestyle in favor of the rural life of where Brewster comes from. I found the poem to be very meaningful. She reminds us of the many issues in the city, and the calmness of the countryside in Canada.