The poems in this collection by Lucy Maud Montgomery were written to reach the readers she thought of as "kindred spirits" - those thousands of people who then, as now, would be as deeply moved as she
The poems in this collection by Lucy Maud Montgomery were written to reach the readers she thought of as "kindred spirits" - those thousands of people who then, as now, would be as deeply moved as she was by beauty in nature and in spirit. She felt herself drenched with beauty. It was an emotion that evolves heart-deep recognition in readers who will find an echo of their own yearnings and hungers for emotional outlet.
Maud Montgomery was well aware that greatness as a poet was beyond her reach, but her verses were capable of putting into words what ordinary people felt and often could not explain. They express the sense of awe and delight arising from the simple human experiences of all that is lovely in the world. "I've written one real poem out of my heart," she confided to a friend in a week when she had sent off several verses she knew to be pot-boilers. But even these held a small kernel of thought, of appreciation, of gratitude for the gift of natural beauty. The poems in this collection will reach as deeply into the heart of today's readers as they did in those who first read them half a century ago.
Critics are now finding new insights and much genuine ability in Montgomery's poetry, but the poems remain poems for people. She wrote for people who hunger for a way to give voice to their deepest thoughts and emotions. She wrote as an artist paints, in vivid scenes with vivid colours. Her verses are clearly defined gem-like vignettes depicting familiar scenes beloved by all the friends of the earth. She writes of clouds and sky, the clash and thunder of waves on a seashore, the scents of garden and woodland, the kinship of humanity with whatever gods there be.
The qualities of simplicity and earnestness are not to be spurned. While ordinary people can respond to these eternal truths, Montgomery's poems will continue to be read and treasured.
