A World of Songs: Selected Poems, 1894-1921

by L.M. Montgomery, Benjamin Lefebvre (Editor)

Celebrated as a novelist and made famous by her novel Anne of Green Gables and its sequels, L.M. Montgomery (1874–1942) is far less known for also writing and publishing hundreds of poems over a period of half a century.Although this output included a chapbook and a full-length collection in which she presented herself primarily as a nature poet, most of her poems appeared in periodicals, including women’s magazines, farm papers, faith-based periodicals, daily and weekly newspapers, and magazines for children. As a shrewd businesswoman, she learned to find the balance between literary quality and commercial saleability and continued to publish poetry even though it paid less than short fiction. A World of Selected Poems, 1894–1921 , the second volume in The L.M. Montgomery Library, gathers a selection of fifty poems originally published across a twenty-five-year period. Benjamin Lefebvre organizes this work within the context of Montgomery’s life and career, claiming her not only as a nature poet but also as the author of a wider range of "songs": of place, of memory, of lamentation, of war, of land and sea, of death, and of love. Many of these poems echo motifs that readers of Montgomery’s novels will recognize, and many more explore surprising perspectives through the use of male speakers. These poems offer today’s readers a new facet of the career of Canada’s most enduringly popular author.

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 22, 2019

About the author

Lucy Maud Montgomery was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.

Montgomery was born at Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Nov. 30, 1874. She came to live at Leaskdale, north of Uxbridge Ontario, after her wedding with Rev. Ewen Macdonald on July 11, 1911. She had three children and wrote close to a dozen books while she was living in the Leaskdale Manse before the family moved to Norval, Ontario in 1926. She died in Toronto April 24, 1942 and was buried at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must for those in want of wonder of life.

Any fan of Montgomery should read this.

[J.E. Stanway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything L.M.M does she excels at. Her poetry is beyond definition, it is so unique and like herself. I just loved every page of this collection, and it’s bittersweet to be at an end with it 💛

[Brenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strongly edited collection of Montgomery's poetr that demonstrates that if Montgomery had had an editor like Be Lefebvre in the 1920s, she could perhaps have had a second volume of her poems in print. Fills a gap in Montgomery's poetry, and accompanied with a strong essay by Lefebvre, as well as useful indices and footnotes.

[Kereesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[Corinne]

These poems are too dated and sentimental for most, but for fans of Montgomery they provide an interesting extra layer to her writing life.