Lucy Maud Montgomery

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 17:39, 17 July 2006 by D'Arcy Benincosa (talk | contribs) (edit)
Previous (Lucrezia Borgia)
Next (Lucy Stone)
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Lucy Maud Montgomery, or "Maud" as she was known to all who were close to her, is one of Canada's most beloved authors. A writer of poetry, short-stories, and over twenty novels, she is most famously known for her series of books that brought to life spunky orphan, Anne Shirley. Anne of Green Gables was the first of seven novels that deal with Anne's adventurous youth, her marriage, and finally, motherhood.

Childhood

Even though Lucy Maud Montgomery has captured the world over with her descriptions of idyllic life in Prince Edward Island, her upbrinding was far from ideal. Montgomery was born on (November 30, 1874–April 24, 1942) to Clara Woolner Macneil Montgomery and Hugh John Montgomery. The family lived in the small town of Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island. By the time Montgomery was two years old, she had lost both her mother and her father. Her mother died after suffering from a bout of tuberculosis. Her father was unable to deal with the grief he felt and trying to raise a daughter alone. Hugh decided to move and settle in the western territories of Canada, where he remarried a lady named Mary McRae. Hugh Montgomery left his small daughter with Clara's parents, Alexander and Lucy Macneill (for whom Montgomery was named for), in the small community of Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. Montgomery had a difficult and lonely upbringing with only two elderly people for company. In fact, many of her ideas for stories came to her as she had to invent and imagine playmates and parents. She lived through her imagination, beginning to write poetry and stories at a very young age. She also found comfort and solace in the beautiful island that was her home. She often walked along the sea shores and strolled through forests with her journal. At this time she also became an avid reader, often living vicariously through the novels she read. The only alleviation to the loneliness she felt were sporadic visits to Silver Bush, the farmhouse of her Uncle John and Aunt Annie Campbell and their children. Montgomery reveled in these visits with her cousins, desiring to make them last as long as possible.

At the age of six, it was time to begin her education in a small schoolhouse located in the heart of Cavendish. She completed several years here, except for the year 1890-1891, when she went to live with her father and his new wife in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Nothing much is known about that year with her father, except that her first writing success was to come from her time in Prince Albert. Montgomery's poem, "On Cape LeForce", was published in the local newspaper The Patriot. It is assumed that the relation between Montgomery, her father, and new stepmother were not happy, and Montgomery was sent back to Cavendish to live with her grandparents once again. She arrived too late to begin the school year, and had to take her tenth grade course the following year. However, Montgomery was a quick learner and a dedicated student. She surpassed many of her classmates and was accepted to Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. She made up for the missed year of school by completeing the two year teacher's course in just one year and graduating with honors.

Career

After her successful graduation from Prince of Wales College, Montgomery began her career as a teacher, teaching for three years at three different schools on Prince Edward Island: Bideford, Belmont, and Lower Bedeque. During these stints as a teacher, Montgomery took a year to pursue higher education, something that was very unconventional for a women to do at that time. She studied English at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax, Nova Scotia. As she studied, she continued to persue a writing career and received her first payments for her work while attending Dalhousie.

She completed a year at the University, and then returned to teaching. It was while she was teaching at Lower Bedeque in 1898, that her grandfather passed away. Leaving her post immediately, Montgomery returned to Cavendish. Her grandmother, now a widow, was all alone, and, if it weren't for Montgomery returning, would have had to leave her house, as she could not care for it by hersel. Montgomery was very selfless, caring for her grandmother for the next thirteen years of her life. There was a brief period of time in 1901 and 1902 where Montgomery did leave her grandmother for nine months to work for The Daily Echo in Halifax. After nine months, however, she saw that her grandmother's needs were greater than her career, and she returned to Cavendish.

These long and often lonely years with her grandmother would prove to be just the solitude Montgomery needed to give total dedication to her writings. She spend most of her day's writing poetry and short-stories, trying to get them published. She expanded her horizons to sending work to publishers in Canada, American, and Britain. She, like most writers, faced a great amount of rejection. But, finally, she found a small audience for her work and started earning an income. It is estimated that in 1899 she brought home $96.88, which was a nice sum for that time period.

In 1911, shortly after her grandmother's death, she married Ewan Macdonald (1870 - 1943), a Presbyterian Minister, and moved to Ontario where he had taken the position of minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Leaskdale in present-day Uxbridge Township, also affiliated with the congregation in nearby Zephyr.

The couple had three sons: Chester Cameron Macdonald (1912-1964), (Ewan) Stuart Macdonald (1915-1982) and Hugh Alexander, who died at birth in 1914.

Montgomery wrote her next eleven books from the Leaskdale manse. The structure was subsequently sold by the congregation and is now the Lucy Maud Montgomery Leaskdale Manse Museum. In 1926, the family moved in to the Norval Presbyterian Charge, in present-day Halton Hills, Ontario, where today the Lucy Maud Montgomery Memorial Garden can be seen from Highway 7.

Montgomery died in Toronto in 1942, and was buried at the Cavendish Community Cemetery in Cavendish.

Her major collections are archived at the University of Guelph, while the Lucy Maud Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island coordinates most of the research and conferences surrounding her work. Beginning in the 1980s her complete journals, edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston, were published by the Oxford University Press.

As the British writer Tony Barrell has pointed out (London Sunday Times, November 27, 2005), Montgomery was born on exactly the same day as Sir Winston Churchill, the celebrated British prime minister.

Novels

  • 1908 - Anne of Green Gables
  • 1909 - Anne of Avonlea
  • 1910 - Kilmeny of the Orchard
  • 1911 - The Story Girl
  • 1913 - The Golden Road (sequel to The Story Girl)
  • 1915 - Anne of the Island
  • 1917 - Anne's House of Dreams
  • 1919 - Rainbow Valley
  • 1920 - Rilla of Ingleside
  • 1923 - Emily of New Moon
  • 1925 - Emily Climbs
  • 1926 - The Blue Castle
  • 1927 - Emily's Quest
  • 1929 - Magic for Marigold
  • 1931 - A Tangled Web
  • 1933 - Pat of Silver Bush
  • 1935 - Mistress Pat (sequel to Pat of Silver Bush)
  • 1936 - Anne of Windy Poplars
  • 1937 - Jane of Lantern Hill
  • 1939 - Anne of Ingleside

Short stories collections

  • 1912 - Chronicles of Avonlea
  • 1920 - Further Chronicles of Avonlea
  • 1974 - The Road to Yesterday
  • 1979 - The Doctor's Sweetheart
  • 1988 - Akin to Anne: Tales of Other Orphans
  • 1989 - Along the Shore: Tales by the Sea
  • 1990 - Among the Shadows: Tales from the Darker Side
  • 1991 - After Many Days: Tales of Time Passed
  • 1993 - Against the Odds: Tales of Achievement
  • 1994 - At the Altar: Matrimonial Tales
  • 1995 - Across the Miles: Tales of Correspondence
  • 1995 - Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories

Poetry

  • 1916 - The Watchman & Other Poems
  • 1987 - The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery

Non-fiction

  • 1934 - Courageous Women (with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley)

Autobiography

  • 1974 - The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Lucy_Maud_Montgomery&oldid=72421

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki