The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery selected and introduced by John Ferns and Kevin McCabe was published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in 1987.
While researching L.M. Montgomery's short fiction, Rea Wilmshurst of the University of Toronto discovered nearly 500 poems by L.M. Montgomery in magazines, newspapers, and manuscripts. Wilmshurst provided copies of these poems to John Ferns and Kevin McCabe for this project.
From this treasure trove, John Ferns and Kevin McCabe selected 86 poems for inclusion in this volume and categorized them by theme. In his introduction, Kevin McCabe provides biographical information about L.M. Montgomery and writes about her interest in writing verse throughout her life. Montgomery appreciated and aimed to convey beauty in her writing. She often focused on the same subjects in her poetry as in her prose: "the world of nature, human and family relationships, and stages of life." McCabe writes that these poems were selected "to display both what is best and what is typical in her work."
A paperback edition of this book was released in 1999.
Here is the description of the book from Fitzhenry & Whiteside:
The poems in this collection by L.M Montgomery were written to reach the readers she thought of as "kindred spirits" - those thousands of people who then, as now, would be as deeply moved as she was by beauty in nature and in spirit. She felt herself drenched with beauty. It was an emotion that evolves heart-deep recognition in readers who will find an echo of their own yearnings and hungers for emotional outlet.
Maud Montgomery was well aware that greatness as a poet was beyond her reach, but her verses were capable of putting into words what ordinary people felt and often could not explain. They express the sense of awe and delight arising from the simple human experiences of all that is lovely in the world. "I've written one real poem out of my heart," she confided to a friend in a week when she had sent off several verses she knew to be pot-boilers. But even these held a small kernel of thought, of appreciation, of gratitude for the gift of natural beauty. The poems in this collection will reach as deeply into the heart of today's readers as they did in those who first read them half a century ago.
Critics are now finding new insights and much genuine ability in Montgomery's poetry, but the poems remain poems for people. She wrote for people who hunger for a way to give voice to their deepest thoughts and emotions. She wrote as an artist paints, in vivid scenes with vivid colours. Her verses are clearly defined gem-like vignettes depicting familiar scenes beloved by all the friends of the earth. She writes of clouds and sky, the clash and thunder of waves on a seashore, the scents of garden and woodland, the kinship of humanity with whatever gods there be.
The qualities of simplicity and earnestness are not to be spurned. While ordinary people can respond to these eternal truths, Montgomery's poems will continue to be read and treasured.
The book includes the following content and poems:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I: Poems of Nature
The Seasons and the Rural Round
The Mayflower's Message
Apple Blossoms
In Lilac Time
In Haying Time
Out O' Doors
An Autumn Shower
When Autumn Comes
The Last Bluebird
The Lullaby
November Dusk
The First Snowfall
The World of Nature
Buttercups
Echo
The Pond Pasture
Drought
After Drought
Rain In The Country
The Wood Pool
The Tree Lovers
In Untrod Woods
The Wild Places
Times of Day
Sunrise Along Shore
A Perfect Day
Requiem
In Twilight Fields
Twilight In Abegweit
Night In The Pastures
Night
Midnight In Camp
Sea and Shore
On The Bay
On The Gulf Shore
When The Tide Goes Out
Before Storm
The Sandshore In September
Part II: Poems of Humanity
Down Home
Down Home
Home From Town
If I Were Home
Interlude
Last Night In Dreams
Southernwood
The Apple-Picking Time
Coiling Up The Hay
Familiar Places and Things
The Gable Window
Grandmother's Garden
In An Old Town Garden
The Light In Mother's Eyes
An Old Face
The Garden In Winter
Courtship and Romance
At The Dance
Comparisons
If Love Should Come
In Lovers' Lane
Poems of Death and Loss
The Bride Dreams
My Legacy
The Parting Soul
With Tears They Buried You Today
Religious Verse
I Asked Of God
A Thanksgiving
We Have Seen His Star
Ethical Verse
The Choice
Could We But Know
I Wish You
The Land Of Some Day
The Only Way
The Revelation
A Smile
Success
The Test
The Two Guests
The Words I Did Not Say
Which Has More Patience — Man Or Woman?
Poems of Childhood and Youth
All Aboard For Dreamland
The Grumble Family
In Twilight Land
The Quest Of Lazy-Lad
Up In The Poplars
What Children Know
The New Year's Book
Early Poems and Narratives
Farewell
On Cape Le Force
June!
Dramatic Verse
At The Long Sault
The Prisoner
The Watchman
Literature and Poetry
I Feel (Vers Libre)
The Poet's Thought
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Book cover of The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery.
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Created October 25, 2001. Last updated September 11, 2024.
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