Reading, Watching & Listening: L.M. Montgomery | The Common Creative: Reading, Watching & Listening: L.M. Montgomery

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Reading, Watching & Listening: L.M. Montgomery

I don't know about you, but I was obsessed with Anne of Green Gables when I was young. I watched all of the movies, had a braided yarn hat, a pop-up paper doll set, and was hopelessly in love with Gilbert Blythe. I traveled to Prince Edward Island, made sure to buy a bottle of Raspberry Cordial and kept the bottle as a memento for years. And while some phases last a short while, I'm not sure this phase ever really passed... Granted, I can't say I still play with paper dolls! And I've expanded beyond just the story of Anne of Green Gables. If anything, my love for the writer behind the story has grown deeper and I consider Montgomery to be my favourite author. 

If L.M. Montgomery and I had lived in the same place and time, I have a feeling that we would have been "bosom friends". She writes in a way that I connect with so strongly. She has a knack for seeing the beauty in everything and describing that beauty in words that drip with Romanticism. As I've mentioned before, I am very much a Romantic. I love the way she writes so descriptively about each setting, allowing my imagination to run wild, as though I'm experiencing it with her. She gives great life to each thing she describes along with the characters she creates. I feel as though Montgomery was able to articulate the things that people feel so deeply about place or people but aren't necessarily able to describe.
Now the funny thing is...I have only read (fully) two of her books! How can I even claim her to be my favourite author?! I hadn't really thought about it until I came across a few old copies of some of her novels at a thrift store. I continually read poems by Montgomery, so I guess that it satisfied my thirst for word beauty for the time being. But if I really declare her to be my favourite, I think it's about time I dig into each one of her novels! And so, my reading through of every novel she wrote begins. I'm starting with Anne of Avonlea, the second novel in the "Anne" series. And I'm very excited to dig into the Romanticism of it all! More to come on this in the future...
Now if you haven't read any Montgomery, I suggest starting with her singular novel, The Blue Castle. It is highly recommended by me! But to get a taste for her language, here's a small poem that is perfect for this day that is beckoning spring.

Spring Song
Hark, I hear a robin calling!

List, the wind is from the south! 

And the orchard-bloom is falling

Sweet as kisses on the mouth. 



In the dreamy vale of beeches

Fair and faint is woven mist, 

And the river's orient reaches

Are the palest amethyst. 



Every limpid brook is singing

Of the lure of April days; 

Every piney glen is ringing

With the maddest roundelays. 



Come and let us seek together

Springtime lore of daffodils, 

Giving to the golden weather

Greeting on the sun-warm hills. 



Ours shall be the moonrise stealing

Through the birches ivory-white; 

Ours shall be the mystic healing

Of the velvet-footed night. 



Ours shall be the gypsy winding

Of the path with violets blue, 

Ours at last the wizard finding

Of the land where dreams come true

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...