How lovely is this set of silhouette prints of Gilbert Blythe and Anne Shirley? They're by Sealhouette and available on Etsy. Along with the version shown above with Anne and Gilbert's names, there are versions available with quotes by the two characters. Check out the artist's store for more beautiful silhouette prints from literature, TV, and film.
L.M. Montgomery is better known for her novels than her poetry though she published approximately 500 poems during her lifetime. In 1916, Montgomery published a volume of poetry entitled The Watchman and Other Poems. The majority of L.M. Montgomery's poems are devoted to nature, particularly the landscape of Prince Edward Island, and rural life on the sea shore. Montgomery's love of poetry is reflected in many of her novels where characters quote poetry or recite poems and ballads. Just one example is Anne Shirley reciting and reenacting Alfred Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" in Anne of Green Gables.
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada on November 30, 1874. During her lifetime, L.M. Montgomery wrote 20 novels, over 500 short stories, one book of poetry, an autobiography, a life's worth of journals, approximately 500 poems, and a nonfiction book called Courageous Women. Of her work, L.M. Montgomery is best known for writing the novel Anne of Green Gables and giving the world the beloved literary character Anne Shirley, an imaginative, intelligent, loving, red-haired orphan in search of a home.
Image credit:
Photograph of L.M. Montgomery, 1930. Toronto Public Library from the Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Public Domain.
Purchase and read L.M. Montgomery's journals to learn more about her life:
Spring Song
by L.M. Montgomery
O gypsy winds that pipe and sing
In budding boughs of beech,
I know I hear the laugh of spring
In all your silver speech.
O little mists that hide and curl
In hollows wild and green,
I know you will come in gauze and pearl
To wait upon your queen.
O little seed of mellow earth
Where rain and sunshine kiss,
I know the quivering joy of birth
Throbs in your chrysalis.
O Hope, you blossom on my way
Like violet from the clod,
And Love makes rosy all the grey
When spring comes back from God.
Poem published in Verse and Reverse by Members
of the Toronto Women's Press Club (1922).
Image Credit:
Illustration of Violets by Louis-Aimé Martin in Nouveau langage des fleurs, ou, Parterre de flore :
contenant le symbole et le langage des fleurs, leur histoire et leur origine mythologique, ainsi que les plus jolis vers composés a ce sujet (1832). From Biodiversity Heritage Library. Public Domain.
It might surprise you that L.M. Montgomery did not write the eight novels of the Anne of Green Gables series in the order we generally read them today.
L.M. Montgomery introduced Anne Shirley to the world when she published Anne of Green Gables in 1908. Its sequel Anne of Avonlea followed shortly thereafter in 1909. After completing these first two novels about Anne Shirley, Montgomery focused on publishing other novels and short story collections before revisiting Anne.
Between 1915 and 1921, L.M. Montgomery wrote another four books about Anne Shirley and Anne's children. Anne of the Island (1915) tells the story of Anne's college years, Anne’s House of Dreams (1917) begins with Anne's wedding and describes the early years of Anne's marriage to Gilbert Blythe, Rainbow Valley (1919) tells the stories of Anne Blythe's young children, and Rilla of Ingleside (1921) focuses on Anne Blythe's youngest daughter Rilla Blythe.
Following a long gap of 15 years, L.M. Montgomery revisited a younger version of Anne Shirley and wrote about her years as a high school principal in Anne of Windy Poplars (1936). Today, this novel is considered Book 4 of the Anne of Green Gables series if we read the novels in the chronological order of Anne’s life. The storyline of Anne of Windy Poplars falls between Anne of the Island (1915) and Anne’s House of Dreams (1917).
Thirty-one years after publishing Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery wrote Anne of Ingleside in 1939. According to the timeline of Anne’s life, Anne of Ingleside is considered Book 6. Its storyline falls between Anne’s House of Dreams (1917) and Rainbow Valley (1919), both of which were written 20 years earlier.
In summary, here is the publication sequence of the Anne of Green Gables novels. The order we generally read the books in today is listed to the right.
| Publication Sequence | Chronology of Anne's Life |
|---|---|
| 1) Anne of Green Gables (1908) | Book 1 |
| 2) Anne of Avonlea (1909) | Book 2 |
| 3) Anne of the Island (1915) | Book 3 |
| 4) Anne's House of Dreams (1917) | Book 5 |
| 5) Rainbow Valley (1919) | Book 7 |
| 6) Rilla of Ingleside (1921) | Book 8 |
| 7) Anne of Windy Poplars (1936) | Book 4 |
| 8) Anne of Ingleside (1939) | Book 6 |
Have you ever read the books in order by their publication dates, or have you always read the novels in the chronological order of Anne Shirley’s life? What are your thoughts on reading the novels of the Anne of Green Gables series in different orders?
Anne Shirley is a character first introduced to the world in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery. When we first meet Anne, she is an eleven-year-old
girl with a vivid imagination, talkative disposition, and bewitching
personality.
Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert are surprised by Anne's arrival in Avonlea, Prince
Edward Island. The Cuthbert siblings had planned to adopt a young boy
to help Matthew with the farm at Green Gables, but mistakenly they are
sent a girl. Fortunately, Anne wins both Matthew and Marilla over, and
the Cuthberts adopt Anne giving her a home at Green Gables.
