Where I Come From (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Literature): Revision Note

‘Where I Come From’

Here is a detailed guide to Elizabeth Brewster’s poem ‘Where I Come From’, which can be found in the Songs of Ourselves Volume 1 anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a line-by-line “translation” of the poem’s meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of Brewster’s poetic choices and potential effects

• Understanding the text: an exploration of themes and ideas within Brewster’s poem

Overview

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is important to understand what it is about. This section includes:

• An overview of the poem

• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Brewster’s intention and message

‘Where I Come From’ overview

Elizabeth Brewster’s poem ‘Where I Come From’ examines the influence of place and environment on individual identity. It begins by explaining how sensory experiences leave an impression on people all over the world, and develops into a nostalgic memory about the speaker’s own home.   

‘Where I Come From’ breakdown

Lines 1–3

Translation

• The poem begins with a statement: individual identity is shaped by environment

• It is explained that they absorb or “carry with them” aspects (“hints”) of places such as “grace” (elegance) from tropical jungles, or “cool” eyes from watching the ocean

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster establishes the theme of the poem: individual identity is shaped by places

• She describes people with metaphor (opens in a new tab) connoting to habitats, such as those with a “tropic grace” or eyes “cool” from the ocean:

  • This presents humans and natural environments as intrinsically linked

Lines 4-8

Translation

• The poem describes the atmosphere of a city, with the absence of nature’s smell

• She implies the smells of a city are different, and that cities divide nature into neat squares with fountains in the middle, or like museums which organise art into neat blocks complete with a guidebook

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster implies that the city tries to control nature:

  • The metaphorical “nature tidily plotted” describes a man-made environment

  • In a city, everything has a place, suggesting the urban environment tries to control its inhabitants too and tries to restrict spontaneity and wildness

• The alliteration (opens in a new tab) of “different drops” emphasises a key theme, that places leave impressions on people, no matter how different they are

• The repetition of “smell” reinforces the importance of this sense

Lines 9-11

Translation

• The poem focuses on the different smells of a city: “glue”, steel, and subways

• These are connected to places of work, such as “factories”, “offices”, and commuters in subways during “rush hours” 

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster uses sensory imagery (opens in a new tab) to describe nature in an urban setting: the smell of “work” and man-made materials

• She presents city life as busy, suggesting the environment makes people feel hurried

 Lines 12-17

Translation

• The poem moves to describing the speaker’s own home: where she comes from the people have forests in their “minds”, implying nature is part of their psyche or identity 

• A list of descriptions of a rural location (a run-down busy farm) describe her home:

  • There are “battered schoolhouses”, and hens “clucking” near “burned-out” bushes and “blueberry patches”

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster brings the focus inward as she considers how her identity has been influenced by a rural upbringing:

  • She creates a sense of bustling energy to present a happy, busy environment

  • A nostalgic tone presents memories of home as relaxed amongst nature 

  • She creates a sensory contrast with the human creations previously described

• Brewster shows how past experiences of places become ingrained in memory 

Lines 18-19

Translation

• The poet states that it is the seasons of winter and spring that are most remembered (“the mind’s chief seasons”)

• It is the ice forming and breaking that makes these seasons so memorable

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster describes memories that suggest the impact of one’s heritage on identity

• The repetition of “ice” implies memories of home centre around sensual feeling

Lines 20-21

Translation

• The last lines of the poem describe memory as a “door in the mind”:

  • In the speaker’s memory it is like they can feel the “frosty wind” again 

Brewster’s intentions

• Brewster’s poem portrays how memories can be triggered by weather and habitat:

  • A metaphor symbolises memory as a “door” to the past

  • Brewster uses the word “mind” here, and elsewhere in the poem, to connect place with thought

• Repetition of “blow” presents memory as an intense and with a sudden “frosty wind” 

Writer's methods

Although this section is organised into form, structure, and language, it is worth remembering that all of these are considered “writer’s methods” in the CIE Literature for English poetry mark scheme. With this in mind, consider the poet’s choice of form (the way the poem looks or the type of poem it is), its structure (especially how it ends: is it cyclical or resolved?) and, of course, the language used to create effect and, thus, meaning.  

By focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas rather than identifying poetic techniques or translating quotes, you will gain far more marks. That is why all the analysis below is arranged by theme and includes Brewster’s intentions in terms of her choices of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

Brewster’s poem is a reflection on how places influence individuals; particularly how they form part of our identity as they become memories.

Structure 

Brewster’s poem is informal with no pattern of metre (opens in a new tab) or rhyme (opens in a new tab), which contributes to its reflective subject matter about memories of places, and the impressions they leave on individuals.  

Language 

Brewster describes places through sensory experiences, such as smell, texture, colour, and weather to show how places become ingrained in the minds of inhabitants of the world, and therefore shape individual identity. 

Understanding the text

All the questions in the CIE Literature for English exam encourage an informed, personal response, which means that you should develop a sound understanding of the poem’s themes, main ideas, settings, situations and events. This will help you to explore the writer’s intentions and methods. 

This section has been divided into two main themes that Brewster explores in 'Where I Come From’:

• Urban and rural settings

• Individual identity 

Humans and nature 

• Elizabeth Brewster, born in 1922, grew up in a rural Canadian logging town

• The poem ‘Where I Come From’ appears in her 1977 book Sometimes I Think of Moving, which covers themes of place, often about her home in New Brunswick:

  • In this poem, Brewster emphasises a cold setting with the repetition of “ice and the breaking of ice”, and a final line “frosty wind from fields of snow”

  • The rural setting which she describes as her childhood home portrays a wilderness of “acres of pine”

Individual identity  

• Brewster is considered a modernist poet whose work focuses on landscapes and environments, and how personal heritage shapes individual identity

• Her poetry often employs conversational speakers who use simple imagery:

  • The poem ‘Where I Come From’ uses simple descriptions, such as “burned-out bush” or “breaking of ice”

  • Simple metaphor such as “cool eyes” maintains a simplistic style

• The influence of other modernist poets may be found in Brewster’s unpredictable, rambling structure that follows no regular rhythm or rhyme

For further advice and guidance on how to answer the poetry question, please see our detailed guides on Paper 1 Section A: what the question is asking (opens in a new tab) and how to get full marks (opens in a new tab). You will also find an example of a full, annotated model answer (opens in a new tab). 

It is important to remember that no marks are given for comments on any of the other poems studied in the anthology. Your response should concentrate only on the poem given. 

Sources

“Cambridge IGCSE (9–1) 0992 Literature in English syllabus for examination in 2026.” Cambridge International Education, https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/697264-2026-syllabus.pdf (opens in a new tab). Accessed 6 August 2025.

Songs of Ourselves: Volume 1: Cambridge Assessment International Education Anthology of Poetry in English. Cambridge University Press & Assessment, 2018.

“Elizabeth Brewster | NBLCE.” New Brunswick Literature Curriculum in English, https://nblce.lib.unb.ca/resources/authors/elizabeth-brewster (opens in a new tab). Accessed 1 September 2025.