Collections of Poems

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.

In chronological order: The Watchman and Other Poems (1916) | The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery (1987) | The Way to Slumbertown (2005)

The Watchman and Other Poems (1916)

The Watchman and Other Poems was L.M. Montgomery’s eighth book, published by McClelland, Goodchild, and Stewart (later McClelland and Stewart) in November 1916. 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.

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.”

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 (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]”).

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The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery (1987)

The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery was a collection of L.M. Montgomery’s poems selected by John Ferns and Kevin McCabe and introduced by Kevin McCabe. It was published as a jacketed hardcover by Fitzhenry and Whiteside in October 1987. A paperback edition followed in 1999.

Synopsis

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born at Clifton, P.E.I., on 30 November 1874. When she was not quite two years old her mother died, and the child was cared for at the Cavendish farm of her maternal grandparents, Alexander Macneill and his wife Lucy Woolner Macneill. Here Maud (her name in the family) grew up surrounded by the beauties of nature that became so important to her, but also subject to a fairly narrow and restricted life in this small community.

Although her fame today rests on her novels, the first of which (Anne of Green Gables) was published in 1908, Maud’s writing began with poems. In 1904 she earned $591.95, in 1906 more than $700 for poems and short stories sold to many North American publications: astounding totals for a freelance writer at that time, especially a woman.

The success of her first novel was a total surprise to Maud and launched her into the career of novelist for which she became famous world-wide, but her poetry was always to her a higher form of writing.

It was not until her grandmother died in March 1911 that Maud felt free to marry. In July that year she became the wife of the Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Ewan Macdonald an mother of two sons. With husband and sons she came to Toronto in 1935 and found herself busy with demands for more books and for speaking engagements. She was wracked by overwork, by family problems and by the shadow of World War II. Her last years were melancholy. She died on 24 April 1942. Her husband survived to December 1943 and was buried beside her in the little Cavendish cemetery.

Acknowledgements (1)

Introduction / Kevin McCabe (2–19)

Part I: Poems of Nature

The Seasons and the Rural Round

The Mayflower’s Message (23)

Apple Blossoms (24)

In Lilac Time (25–26)

In Haying Time (27–28)

Out O’ Doors (29)

An Autumn Shower (30)

When Autumn Comes (31)

The Last Bluebird (32)

The Lullaby (33–34)

November Dusk (35)

The First Snowfall (36)

The World of Nature

Buttercups (37)

Echo (38)

The Pond Pasture (39)

Drought (40)

After Drought (41)

Rain in the Country (42)

The Wood Pool (43)

The Tree Lovers (44–45)

In Untrod Woods (46)

The Wild Places (47)

Times of Day

Sunrise Along Shore (48–49)

A Perfect Day (50)

Requiem (51)

In Twilight Fields (52)

Twilight in Abegweit (53)

Night in the Pastures (54–55)

Night (56)

Midnight in Camp (57–58)

Sea and Shore

On the Bay (59–60)

On the Gulf Shore (61–62)

When the Tide Goes Out (63)

Before Storm (64)

The Sandshore in September (65)

Part II: Poems of Humanity

Down Home

Down Home (69)

Home from Town (70–71)

If I Were Home (72–73)

Interlude (74)

Last Night in Dreams (75–76)

Southernwood (77)

The Apple-Picking Time (78–79)

Coiling Up the Hay (80)

Familiar Places and Things

The Gable Window (81–82)

Grandmother’s Garden (83–84)

In an Old Town Garden (85)

The Light in Mother’s Eyes (86–87)

An Old Face (88)

The Garden in Winter (89)

Courtship and Romance

At the Dance (90–91)

Comparisons (92)

If Love Should Come (93)

In Lovers’ Lane (94)

Poems of Death and Loss

The Bride Dreams (95–97)

My Legacy (98)

The Parting Soul (99)

With Tears They Buried You Today (100–101)

Religious Verse

I Asked of God (102)

A Thanksgiving (103)

We Have Seen His Star (104)

Ethical Verse

The Choice (105)

Could We but Know (106)

I Wish You (107)

The Land of Some Day (108–9)

The Only Way (110)

The Revelation (111)

A Smile (112–13)

Success (114)

The Test (115)

The Two Guests (116–17)

The Words I Did Not Say (118–19)

Which Has More Patience—Man or Woman? (120–21)

Poems of Childhood and Youth

All Aboard for Dreamland (122)

The Grumble Family (123–24)

In Twilight Land (125)

The Quest of Lazy-Lad (126–27)

Up in the Poplars (128–29)

What Children Know (130)

The New Year’s Book (131)

Early Poems and Narratives

Farewell (132–34)

On Cape Le Force (135–39)

June! (140–41)

Dramatic Verse

At the Long Sault (142–45)

The Prisoner (146–47)

The Watchman (148–51)

Literature and Poetry

I Feel (Vers Libre) (152)

The Poet’s Thought (153)

Reviews (5)

Canadian Book Review Annual 1987, edited by Dean Tudor (Toronto: Simon and Pierre, 1988), 167 (Betsy Struthers).

Gazette (Montreal), 13 February 1988, J9 (Eileen Manion, “The Two Faces of ‘Anne’”).

The Atlantic Provinces Book Review 15, no. 2 (May–June 1988): 7 (Laura Groening, “The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery”).

The Atlantic Advocate (Fredericton), February 1989, 44–45 (Michael O. Nowlan).

Canadian Literature 132 (Spring 1992): 228–30 (Muriel Whitaker, “Women Alone”).

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The Way to Slumbertown (2005)

The Way to Slumbertown was a picture book that reprinted the text of a poem by L.M. Montgomery alongside illustrations by Rachel Bédard. It was published by Lobster Press in 2005.

Citation: Montgomery, L.M. The Way to Slumbertown. Illustrated by Rachel Bédard. Montreal: Lobster Press, 2005.

Synopsis

Follow the lilting words of L.M. Montgomery, poet and world-renowned author of Anne of Green Gables, as she reveals The Way to Slumbertown.

L.M. Montgomery’s classic poem is now a beautifully illustrated lullaby without which no bedtime travels would be complete. As soothing as a mother’s embrace, The Way to Slumbertown gently guides children to the magical world of dreams as they peacefully drift off to sleep.