When you learn to read at age 3, it makes it much simpler to get on the fast track to national literary awards by age 15.
At least that’s how it worked for L.M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud for short).
Some people will say that reading keeps them alive. Let’s imagine that’s what happened with the young Montgomery: living in a home with storytellers and poets (and wall to wall books) helped her fight off the effects of typhoid fever that nearly took her life at the age of 5. She would get up from her sick bed in a house filled with words and go on as a teenager to win the Canada prize sponsored by the local Montreal Witness newspaper.
Montgomery wrote 20 novels over the course of her life, along with hundreds of short stories and poems. It was her magazine essays that helped establish her as a writer long before she was able to get a book published. Montgomery’s fiction, much of it revolving around the character of Anne Shirley who made her debut in Anne of Green Gables, allowed her to speak her mind in ways that, considering the times, would not otherwise have been possible, especially for a woman. Perhaps there is a little hint of that in a comment from Mr. Harrison (a character in Anne of Avonlea), when he said, “She can put a whole sermon, text, comment, and application, into six words, and throw it at you like a brick.”
Anne of Avonlea follows on Anne of Green Gables and tells the story of Anne, now supposedly becoming a responsible member of adult society. Here are 10 delightful quotes from the story:
1.
“Better leave it alone, Anne, that’s what. People don’t like being improved.”
—Rachel Lynde
2.
“I shall govern by affection, Mr. Harrison.”
—Anne Shirley
3.
“Isn’t it something to have started a soul along a path that may end in Shakespeare and Paradise Lost?”
—Ann Shirley
4.
“I detest that woman more than anybody I know. She can put a whole sermon, text, comment, and application, into six words, and throw it at you like a brick.”
—Mr. Harrison
5.
Anne Shirley: “If you had three candies in one hand and two in the other, how many would you have altogether?”
Lottie: “A mouthful.”
6.
“Everything that’s worth having is some trouble.”
—Anne Shirley
7.
“It is not every day one sees a soul…even of a poem.”
—Anne Shirley
8.
“I’ve prayed every night that God would give me enough grace to enable me to eat every bit of my porridge in the mornings. But I’ve never been able to do it yet, and whether it’s because I have too little grace or too much porridge I really can’t decide.”
—Paul Irving
9.
“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
—Anne Shirley
10.
“I suppose that’s how it looks in prose. But it’s very different if you look at it through poetry.”
—Anne Shirley
Photo by Derek Gavey, Creative Commons via Flickr.
How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
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Maureen says
Simple Poetry . . .
Pearls slipping off,
a mouthful
of affection, like candies—
three in one hand
two in the other
*
That woman in Paradise—
she did not believe
how God sees
she started along
the path to trouble.
*
I am having some
trouble with Shakespeare.
Every night
I’ve prayed to be able
to put all that poetry
in just six words.
*
A little bit of porridge
every morning
is better than a night
without poetry.
L. L. Barkat says
These are delightful, Maureen. I like the proverb-like form of the last one especially.
As for the post quotes, I think my favorite humorous one might be about the porridge. I love how Montgomery slips in some good solid questioning of the religious-belief status quo through the talk of an innocent child.
Will Willingham says
Love when you do this, Maureen. 🙂
Every night
I’ve prayed to be able
to put all that poetry
in just six words.
Jody Lee Collins says
LW, I’m working on a post myself for the blog, “The Gospel According to Anne Shirley”; it must be in the air. I first read Anne of Green Gables when I was 12 years old, now I’m re reading it over 50 years later. I can see what I loved about it then and enjoy even more now–the wit and wisdom and pure hilarity at times of LM Montgomery.
Thanks for sharing these Avonlea bits….(my copy is awaiting me in the ‘to be read’ basket at home).
Marilyn Yocum says
I always have the feeling, when I encounter LM Montgomery’s words, that she enjoyed the freedom to have fun while writing. I don’t know why. I’m going to think about that today, and also why it engenders a particular feeling in me. Hmmm…. Enjoyed this (and Maureen’s comment) immensely!
Marilyn Yocum says
Okay, I gave it a day’s thought and decided the feeling it engendered was………jealousy.
Will Willingham says
Interesting response, jealousy. It’s one we always think around here is worth probing a little bit. 🙂 (L.L. even wrote about it: https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2014/05/01/write-poem-jealousy-poem-stacks/)
To have fun while writing. Such a contrast to the tortured image we seem so often to portray. 🙂