Where I Come From by Elizabeth Brewster Student sheet
Information about the author:
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Elizabeth Winifred Brewster, poet, writer (b at Chipman, NB 26 Aug 1922). Elizabeth Brewster grew up in a small New Brunswick lumber town. She won scholarships that allowed her to attend and earn a BA at the University of New Brunswick, an MA at Radcliffe College, a BLSci at the University of Toronto and a PhD at Indiana University. Before she joined the University of Saskatchewan's Department of English in 1972, Brewster was a librarian and cataloguer in New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Elizabeth Brewster has published more than 20 books, most of them poetry collections. She remembers rural eastern Canada and contemplates western Canada, the Old Testament, and the universe in her poetry and prose.
Elizabeth Brewster was one of a handful of modernist female poets published in Canadian magazines in the 1940s. Her first book of poetry was East Coast (1951). The two-volume Selected Poems of Elizabeth Brewster: 1944-1984 was published in 1985. Her collection Footnotes to the Book of Job (1995) was short-listed for theGOVERNORGENERAL'SAWARD. Collected Poems of Elizabeth Brewster, in two volumes, appeared in 2003 and 2004.
Elizabeth Brewster's prose works include the short-story collections It's Easy to Fall on the Ice (1977), A House Full of Women (1983) and Visitations (1987). Her novels, The Sisters (1974) and Junction (1983), are set in her home province of New Brunswick. The autobiographical works, The Invention of Truth (1991) and Away from Home (1995), are a mix of poetry and prose.
Elizabeth Brewster was a founding member of the important Canadian literary magazineTHEFIDDLEHEAD. She is a recipient of the Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Saskatchewan Arts Board and a Member of the Order of Canada.
Author JEAN WILSON
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Questions:
1. Write down where you were born and where you grew up. Write down not only the name of the city and country but also what you remember about the natural surroundings of this place, as well as the people, the weather, and any other defining features of this place.
2. Write down any other place(s) where you have lived that have profoundly impacted your life.
3. Read the poem.
4. Using the idea of WRITER (see below) look at the different aspects of the poem with a partner.
W What is happening in the poem? Who is speaking? red
R Rhyme, rhythm and structure yellow
I Imageryblue
T Toneblack
E Effectsgreen
R Responsebrown
What is happening in the poem?
Who is speaking?
Is there anything interesting that you can say about the Rhyme of the poem?
About the rhythm and structure of the poem?
Are there any examples of imagery in the poem?
What is the overall tone of the poem?
How do the techniques that you have found contribute to the overall effect of the poem?
What is your response to the poem? What do you think that the author is trying to say?
Stanza 1
1. According to the poem what do people carry with them?
2. What do you take this to mean?
3. The atmosphere of the city described in the third sentence of stanza one as different from the places in the second sentence. Is the description of the city positive or negative in your opinion? Justify.
4. What smells are mentioned in the city?
5. What two things are referred to as tidily plotted?
6. What do you suppose the author is trying to say?
Stanza 2
1. Notice that stanza 2 is spaced over to start in the middle of the line exactly where Stanza 1 leaves off. Why do you think the author does this.
2. Look at the information about the author. Where does she come from? Relate this information to the poem.
3. In the poem what do people where she comes from carry in their minds?
4a. What image do you get of where the author comes from. Justify.
4b. Write down words that give a positive image.
Write down words that have a negative connotation.
5. What do you think that the author is trying to say about where she comes from?
6. Once again look at the information about the author. Why do you think only two seasons are mentioned in the poem? What does the poet mean by “Spring and winter are the mind’s chief seasons”?
Stanza 3
1. What effect does the fact that the last stanza is only 2 lines long have on the meaning of the poem?
2. Comment on the use of imagery in the 3rd stanza.
3. What is your interpretation of a “frosty wind from fields of snow”?
4. What do you think the author is trying to say with this final rhyming couplet?
5. The author uses a lot of punctuation in the poem. Comment on this.