Listen
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/si
nglePoem.do?poemId=4671
Pan, the noisy goatfooted god of the
Greeks, looks after
shepherds and woods,
is a capable musician,
and invented the
instrument named for
him, panpipes. He leads
the nymphs in dances.
He stirs up panic. He is
worshiped in Arcadia
and is associated with
sexuality.
Sarasvati, Hindu goddess
of learning and the arts,
especially music. She is
regarded as the patroness
of art, music, and letters
and as the inventor of
the Sanskrit language. She
is usually represented as
riding on a goose of pure
white that is able to
undertake long flights and
holding a lute and a
manuscript or book. In
modern times her mount
has frequently been
represented as a swan.
Themes/Meaning
Structure & Form
Tone/Mood
Imagery
A Different History
Remember to focus on how these effects are achieved.
Structure/Form
Why do you think some lines are indented?
What does this say about the movement of
books/culture/borders/immigration?
The poem is written in free verse, what potential
significance does this have?
What is the poet saying about
globalization/colonization here?
What does she see as its dangers?
Who is the speaker in the poem? Who is her
audience? What is her reason for writing this
poem?
What is the speaker’s attitude towards the
subject of the poem?
Imagery
• How are the Gods compared?
• “here the gods roam freely; disguised as snakes or
monkeys…” Explain the juxtaposition here.
• Repetition of the word “sin”/other religious
language.
• Personification of the tree “offending”
• Word choice of “conqueror” “murderer”
“oppressor”
• “soul has been cropped with a long scythe”
Mood/Tone
• What is ironic about the language the poem is
written in?
• How would you describe the tone shift from stanzas
one to two?
• How does the poet’s style force this tone change?
• Did you notice anything different in the reading of
the poem?
• What is being compared in the poem?
• Is there a change of mood in the poem?
What differences can you see between the two
sections. Look both at the content and the
language Bhatt uses?
How does Bhatt use words and phrases to
convey how sacred trees and books are?
• Consider more closely the different mood of the second section,
exploring the precise effects of particular words that you find
striking.
• How do you think these lines should be read? Is the tone bitter or
sad? Does the tone of voice change at any stage – and, if it does,
why?
About the Poet
Elizabeth Brewster was born in 1922 in the small lumber
town of Chipman, New Brunswick, Canada.
The description in the
second stanza of this poem
captures something of the
rural Canada of her early
years.
People are made of places
The first sentence of the first stanza is exemplified in the rest of the verse.
Places in Stanza 1
Associated Words
and Sounds
Places in Stanza 2
Associated Words
and Sounds
jungles
tropic grace
acres of pine woods
…
Which places are described more approvingly and
which places less approvingly?
Structure
1. In what way do the places in stanza 1 differ from those
in 2?
2. In what way could there be said to be a time shift
between these stanzas?
3. Why does the poet choose to repeat the title here?
4. The final 4 lines are the most important in the poem.
Show how the poet shifts from the personal to the
universal.
5. Why do you think Brewster finishes with a rhyming
couplet?
6. Free Verse?
7. Indentation?
Meaning/Theme
1. What does the speaker mean when she says
“People are made of places.” Refer to text.
2. In what ways is memory a part of us? Could it
be said to be all that we are? How can it
shape our present reality?
3. How far can it be said that we are a product
of where we grew up?
Imagery
1. the metaphor ‘A door in the mind blows open’?
2. the alliteration of “blueberry patches in the
burned out bush”
3. the sibilance of “the smell of smog/or the
almost not smell of tulips in the spring”
4. the juxtaposition of “battered schoolhouses
behind which violets grow”
5. “ice and the breaking of ice”
As always, think about the effects created by the
use of such devices.
Mood/Tone
Does the poem has only a personal significance to
the poet, or is it possible to detect a more universal
significance?
Who is the speaker and audience of this poem?
How would you describe the tone?
Pick striking words or phrases to support your
ideas.
The Senses
Do you feel that the senses are used to powerful
effect in the poem?
Write down an image or a description from the
poem which strongly engaged one of your
senses. Be prepared to explain why to your
partner. How did the poet achieve this effect?
Essay Question:
How do the poets create a sense of
place and deal with the theme of
identity?
You are going to write a typed 800 word
response to this question based on the poems:
“Where I Come From” by Elizabeth Brewster
”A Different History ” by Sujata Bhatt
This will form part of your key assessments.
This is what to look for in a poem. The acronym
STILTS will help you remember what to write about.
Structure
Theme
Imagery words that put pictures in your mind*
Language
Tone (mood, point(s) of view)
Both poets deal with the theme of place and
identity, including ideas of displacement - being
a stranger in a strange land. In ‘A Different
History’, Bhatt deals with nostalgia for her
homeland, colonialism, and the discomfort of
control by an ‘oppressor’ with an alien language.
In Brewster’s poem, the biggest opposition is
between the ‘atmosphere of cities’ and the
‘woods’ where she grew up
Lesson Links
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olsK2jHoc
pY
• http://matthewspoetryanalysis.blogspot.com/
2013/05/a-different-history-sujata-bhatt.html
• http://literature-igcse.weebly.com/elizabethbrewster-where-i-come-from.htm
• http://matthewspoetryanalysis.blogspot.com/
2013/05/where-i-come-from-elizabethbrewster.html
First: Write a short poem about your culture and Identity.
You may want to think about the different cultures/languages in Peru.
What is associated with each of these?
What Gods are at work here?
Second: Compare and contrast your culture
and Identity to that of Sujata Bhatts.
The poems will be judged by teachers and the
best poem will win a prize and be presented in
Assembly.
A Teacher Writes
• http://englishtutorhome2.blogspot.com/
JUXTAPOSITION
• placing things close
together or side by
side, especially for
comparison or
contrast.
Marcel Proust
10 July 1871 – 18
November 1922
An Introduction
P
E
A
R
POINT
EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS
RELATE
Think of PEARs as the basic building block of a critical evaluation. Each
block consists of:
• POINT - which relates to the question you are asked, or the purpose of
your essay. This is also where you explain what is going on at the time of
the quotation.
• EVIDENCE - To prove this point, you must have evidence, a quote from the
text.
• ANALYSIS- which shows why the quotation proves the point you are trying
to make. You should also pick out words, expressions, techniques from
your quotation which will back up ideas for your essay question.
• RELATE – this is where you link what you’ve been saying to the language of
the question
The Basic Plan
Introduction
–
–
Hook the Reader
Name the works and authors
–
Refer to the question or task
–
Explain briefly, what's similar and different about the texts?
–
Give an overview of what is most interesting about these texts in relation to the question
– Body of the essay
–
4 paragraphs, loosely based on the STILT or our note quadrants- each featuring at
least one PEAR from each poem.
Conclusion
–
Refer to texts
–
Refer to the task
–
Sum up points already made.
–
Give a personal reaction to the text.
PEAR
The second stanza of Brewster’s poem uses the first person, “ Where I come
from” signalling that we should more closely identify this section with the
speaker’s own identity:
“people carry woods in their minds, acres of pine woods;
blueberry patches in the burned-out bush;
wooden farmhouses, old, in need of paint,”
The speaker paints a picture of the woods of her childhood in lists . She isn’t
overly romantic, but more matter of fact. She shows wear and tear, that things
are not perfect and in need of repair. The alliteration of the comforting “boo”
sound hints at a regression to a state of infancy as the speaker seeks the comfort
of her memories. The “blueberry patches” growing amongst the dead branches
could be a metaphor for memory itself in that, in a sense, these moments are
dead and yet we still have the power to animate them and take nourishment
from their awakening. In this way Brewster’s shows us that the places of our
memory are perhaps more real to us than those in the tangible world.