The Watchman and Other Poems was L.M. Montgomery’s eighth book, published by McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart in November 1916.
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About The Watchman and Other Poems
It contains ninety-four poems, most of which had been previously published in North American periodicals between 1899 and 1916. It also appeared in an American edition by Frederick A. Stokes Company in 1917 and in a UK edition by Constable and Company in 1920.
L.M. Montgomery’s poetry has appeared in several collections of poems published during her lifetime and after her death. In 1916, as part of a multi-book deal with her new publishers, Montgomery published her only full collection, The Watchman and Other Poems, and toward the end of her life, she selected forty-one poems (nearly all of them written after 1916) for inclusion in The Blythes Are Quoted, the last book she completed before her death.
Citation: Montgomery, L.M. The Watchman and Other Poems. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart, 1916.
From the Front Cover
Those familiar with Miss Montgomery’s work as novelist, are not surprised that she has also written a volume of poetry. One with her joyous outlook on life, vivid imagination, could not help being a poet. More than that, she has lived nearly all her life in Prince Edward Island, where the fairies are said to live. In truth, Miss Montgomery was a poet long before she began to write prose; indeed, it is doubtful if she has ever been anything else, for Anne Shirley is essentially a creature of sentiment, of imagination, and of those qualities of heart and brain which are the products of the poetic mind. Her verse is quite as perfect as her prose, though without its human touch; and her lyrics, especially those dealing with the smiling aspects of her native province, its fragrant fields of red earth and the “blue sea coming up on every side,” are of rare quality, delicate, lilting and full of music.
From “Canadian Poets.”
Dedication
“To the memory of the gallant Canadian soldiers who have laid down their lives for their country and their empire.”
Contents
Acknowledgments (v)
Dedication (vii)
Contents (ix–xii)
The Watchman (3–7)
Songs of the Sea
Rain Along Shore (11–12)
Sea Sunset (13)
When the Dark Comes Down (14–15)
Harbor Moonrise (16–17)
Before Storm (18–19)
On the Bay (20–21)
Shore Twilight (22)
Song of the Sea-Wind (23)
Morning Along Shore (24)
Off to the Fishing Ground (25–26)
In Port (27)
The Gulls (28)
Sunrise Along Shore (29–30)
The Sea Spirit (31)
Harbor Dawn (32)
My ’Longshore Lass (33)
When the Fishing Boats Go Out (34–35)
The Bridal (36)
The Sea to the Shore (37–38)
The Voyagers (39–40)
Songs of the Hills and Woods
Twilight and I Went Hand in Hand (43–44)
Come, Rest Awhile (45)
An April Night (46)
Rain on the Hill (47–48)
For Little Things (49)
Spring Song (50)
A Day Off (51–52)
The Wind (53)
The Wood Pool (54)
Down Stream (55–56)
Echo Dell (57)
The Rovers (58–59)
Among the Pines (60–61)
A Day in the Open (62–63)
Midnight in Camp (64–65)
The Hill Maples (66–67)
A Summer Day (68–69)
September (70)
In Lovers’ Lane (71–72)
On the Hills (73–74)
An Autumn Evening (75)
November Evening (76–77)
Out o’ Doors (78)
In the Days of the Golden Rod (79)
A Winter Day (80–81)
Twilight (82)
The Call of the Winds (83–84)
A Winter Dawn (85)
The Forest Path (86)
At Nightfall (87)
The Truce o’ Night (88–89)
Miscellaneous
To My Enemy (93)
As the Heart Hopes (94–95)
Two Loves (96)
The Christmas Night (97–98)
In an Old Farmhouse (99–100)
A Request (101)
Memory Pictures (102)
Down Home (103)
The Choice (104)
Twilight in the Garden (105–6)
My Legacy (107)
Gratitude (108)
Fancies (109)
One of the Shepherds (110–12)
If Mary Had Known (113–15)
At the Long Sault (116–19)
The Exile (120–21)
The Three Songs (122–23)
In an Old Town Garden (124–25)
The Seeker (126)
The Poet’s Thought (127)
The Call (128–29)
The Old Home Calls (130–31)
Genius (132)
Love’s Prayer (133)
The Prisoner (134–35)
Companioned (136)
You (137–38)
Unrecorded (139–41)
With Tears They Buried You To-day (142–43)
In Memory of “Maggie” (144)
Realization (145)
The Garden in Winter (146)
The Difference (147)
The Poet (148–49)
The Mother (150–51)
To One Hated (152)
While the Fates Sleep (153)
The Farewell (154–55)
The Old Man’s Grave (156)
Forever (157)
By an Autumn Fire (158–59)
Reviews of The Watchman and Other Poems (13)
Globe (Toronto), 22 November 1916, 6. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 173–75 (as “[A Volume Full of Charming Things]”).
Montreal News, 27 November 1916. Scrapbook of Reviews, 92.
Toronto World, 28 November 1916, 3. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 175 (as “[The Fancies of a Young Heart]”).
Christian Guardian (Toronto), “Canadian Verse.” 6 December 1916, 13. Scrapbook of Reviews, 87. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 175–76.
Montreal Witness, 9 January 1917. Scrapbook of Reviews, 90.
Mail and Empire (Toronto), 9 December 1916. Scrapbook of Reviews, 92.
Unidentified clipping, [ca. 1916] (“If Mary Had Known”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 92.
Unidentified clipping, [ca. 1916] (“The Watchman and Other Poems”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 91.
The Canadian Magazine (Toronto), January 1917, 293. Scrapbook of Reviews, 93–94. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 176 (as “[This Gifted Canadian Writer]”).
The Family Herald and Weekly Star (Montreal), 31 January 1917, 3 (“Poems by Author of ‘Anne of Green Gables’”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 90. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 176–78 (as “[Poems by Author of Anne of Green Gables]”).
Springfield (MA) Union, 13 May 1917 (“Canadian Poetry Presented in Excellent Anthology”). Scrapbook of Reviews, 123.
Chicago Evening Post, 13 July 1917, 8 (S.W.).
The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 13 May 1920, 2. Scrapbook of Reviews, 173. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 178 (as “[Breezy and Inspiriting Book of Poems]”).