Lucy Maud Montgomery

My most recent paper I have written is a biography. I chose to write about a poet by the name of Lucy Maud Montgomery. She wrote the famous Anne of Green Gables. When I was younger, I remember watching Anne of Green Gables many times! I found her to be quite interesting while reading up on her, so here is a little bit of information about her(: Actually, here is a bunch of information about her!

Enjoy

                                       

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            More Than Just a Writer

“I cannot remember the time when I was not writing, or when I did not mean to be an author.” Even as a young child Lucy Maud Montgomery longed to write and this helped her become one of Canada’s best loved authors.  Lucy Maud Montgomery came into the world on November 30, 1874, the only daughter of Hugh John Montgomery, a former sea captain, and Clara Woodener Macneill, lived in the beautiful village of Clifton located on Prince Edward Island, Canada (Lucy Maud Montgomery). Montgomery named Lucy after her grandmother, and Maud after Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, hated being called Lucy. She preferred the name Maud and insisted upon it having no e attached to the end (A writer’s life). Two other of her unique characteristics included a love for cats and a talent for photography which became one of her favorite hobbies. Montgomery’s works, influenced by her love of nature and her childhood on a farm became loved by the world. During her life, Lucy Maud Montgomery added to the meaning of quality literature and fine poetry, and has shown that one who works hard can fulfill their dreams.

From the start, Montgomery’s childhood and early years prepared her for the famous works she would write, which have inspired and delighted all ages. At twenty-one months, her mother died and her father, grief stricken, sent her to live with her maternal grandparents who lived in Cavendish. After sending Maud to her grandparents, Hugh moved to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, located in West Canada, to find work and later married Mary Anne McCrae (A Writer’s Life). Montgomery’s Presbyterian grandparents owned a post office in Cavendish and lived on a farm. That farm later became her inspiration for Anne of Green Gables. As Presbyterians, the Macneills regularly attended Cavendish Presbyterian Church and although Lucy Montgomery found the services boring, she enjoyed dressing up in her best and reciting scripture. As a child, she spent many of her days playing in the emerald field, picking berries, fishing, and collecting shells. Through her fun however, she had a growing introspect and a sensitive nature. Despite her young age when her mother died, Montgomery still had vivid memories of that sad day. Because of heart ache after losing her mother and sensitive nature, people teasing or singling her out horrified her. At the age of five she almost died do to typhoid fever, but otherwise remained very healthy. Surrounded by the beautiful countryside, she appreciated nature and loved doing activities outdoors. Montgomery had a habit of naming places she came in contact with, such as naming a forest the “haunted wood” or a lake “the lake of shining waters.” When she turned six, Montgomery started attending Cavendish school house located close to her grandparents’ house. Having already learned to read at home she had no problem with the second reader and would voraciously read magazines, Han’s Christian Anderson’s fairy tales and whatever else she could lay her hands on. She would also read works of poetry by Long Fellow, Tennyson, and John Bunyan (Lucy Maud Montgomery). Montgomery had access to more books than usual for that era (L.M. Montgomery Research Center). Lucy, quite early in her life showed her gift of writing and took advantage of her childhood to cultivate and grow that gift.

Determination and the desire to become a writer helped Montgomery in her next stage of life to pursue her dream. Even at a young age, Lucy aspired to become a writer and where others may have given up, she kept persisting in writing and submitting her works to newspapers and articles even if it took three tries to publish one composition. She began by writing only hymns at first, but soon after, she began writing poems as well. At age fifteen, Montgomery took her first train ride in 1889 with her grandfather to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in West Canada. There, for the first time, she saw her father’s new wife, Mary Anne McCrae (A Writer’s Life). For a year, Montgomery stayed with her father and stepmother while attending high school. During this time, she submitted her poem based on the legend of Cape Leforce to the newspaper called The Patriot. This became the first of her many poems published all over the country (Lucy Maud Montgomery). Although she loved her father, she greatly disliked her stepmother’s and mistreatment and homesickness for Prince Edward Island made Montgomery return to her homeland in 1891. This became the last time she would ever see her father as he died only a few years later (A Writer’s Life). Later on, in 1893, Lucy Montgomery earned her teaching degree while attending Prince of Whales College in Charlottetown. For Lucy, this opened up a teaching job and she took it teaching year-long in the number six, one-room school house in Bideford. After that, she decided to attend Dalhousie University located in Nova Scotia to become further educated and began teaching in Belmont. In 1896, Montgomery became engaged to her cousin, Edwin Simpson; however, she did not marry him. During these years, she had almost given up her dream of becoming a writer. Although she tried publishing her stories and poems, nine out of ten would come back rejected. She did not give up. Her first published work, a short story, earned her five dollars and became printed in the Philadelphia Publication (Lucy Maud Montgomery). Lucy, in 1901, started working for a newspaper called the Echo in Halifax. She had to find mistakes and pre-write articles before sending them to the publisher. This did not last long though and in 1902, she left and traveled back to Cavendish to take care and look after her grandmother (Writer’s life). Although Montgomery had become preoccupied with her grandmother, she still found some time to write poems. Many of the poems that she composed, which add up to more than five hundred, usually describe the woods or seashore or hinted of the outdoors which she greatly loved.  Although some of her poems did talk about other matters, having grown up on the beautiful Prince Edward Island greatly inspired and helped shaped the ideas behind most of her poetry. She once wrote, “I believed in myself and I struggled on alone, in secrecy and silence. I never told my ambitions and efforts and failures to anyone. Down, deep down, under all discouragement and rebuff, I knew I would ‘arrive’ someday” (A Writer’s Life). Montgomery struggled to fulfill her childhood dream but through much hard work, it would eventually come true.

Later on in her life, Montgomery continued to accomplish much more than just publishing her own book and delighting her readers by the wonderful character she created; she also began a family. Montgomery still wrote several well composed poems though her strength lay in writing rather than poetry. The poem “A Day Off” tells of two people taking a break from their work to rest in a forest by a stream and has many beautiful and accurate descriptions of the outdoors. Another piece, “Forever,” represents her other type of poetry about relationships and other such genres. Her story, Anne of Green Gables, made Montgomery famous throughout the world. Although rejected five times, in 1907, after much persistence, Montgomery succeeded in getting the book published. It became a success with people of all ages and received great amounts of fan mail including a letter from Mark Twain (Lucy Maud Montgomery Biography). “Well, I’ve written my book! The dream dreamed years ago at the old brown desk in school has come true at last after years of toil and struggle,” Montgomery triumphantly stated after receiving a printed copy of her first book. Because of this success, articles and newspapers that had once turned her down now requested stories from her (A Writer’s life). During her life, Lucy Montgomery penned twenty-four books, five hundred and thirty short stories, and over five hundred poems. Her greatest achivement, Anne of Green Gables, later became translated into over twenty languages and was one of the first English novels to become translated in Japanese. After this famous book, Montgomery was elected into the Literary and Artistic Institute of France, an honor because few women or people outside of France became members. Six months later, she became an officer in the order of the Britain Empire and was given a medal by King George the fifth. However, Lucy Montgomery’s life did not just consist of writing and poetry; she had another life as well. While her grandmother still lived, Lucy had taken care of her and could not do much else. She had however become secretly engaged to Ewen Macdonald, a local minister. After her grandmother died, Lucy no longer had any family obligations and later married Ewen Macdonald with whom she had two children, Stuart and Chester. She would write in the mornings and spend time with her boys or do church work the rest of the day. By 1914 Montgomery’s income had increased to twelve thousand and later grew up to forty-six thousand.  However, she had troubles later on with her publisher wanting to sue her for changing to another publisher, her husband getting headaches and depression, and her own physical decay. She eventually had to have all of her teeth pulled because they caused her too much pain. In 1925, Montgomery and her family moved to Norval, Ontario where her husband became a minister at the Presbyterian Church. During this time Lucy Montgomery wrote a book called Magic for Marigold. Five years later Ewan’s health quickly started to deteriorate but Montgomery managed to publish six books during this time. In 1935, Ewan retired and Montgomery bought them a house in Toronto. This house became her last and her career ended here (A Writer’s Life). Even later in her life Montgomery continued to keep busy and pursue her passion, writing, and stopped writing only a few years before her death.

Montgomery never knew how popular her characters would become and that musicals, plays, and movies would come of her hard work. She is one of Canada’s most well-known and enduring authors (Lucy Maud Montgomery Biography). She once said, “I cannot remember the time when I was not writing, or when I did not mean to be and author. To write has always been my central purpose around which every effort and hope and ambition of my life has grouped itself” (A Writer’s Life). This described Lucy Montgomery’s dream, which did not come true easily. However, she would not give up easily and succeeded in the end. Growing up on beautiful Prince Edward Island, her love for the outdoors became evident through her works. They inspired and defined her poetry style. During her later part of her life, Montgomery had breakdowns and her health slowly declined and on April 24, 1942, the poet and famed author died (Lucy Maud Montgomery Biography). Lucy Maud Montgomery’s  stories and poems, however,  continue to live on, reminding all fans and readers of the great legacy she has left

                           

                             Here is the power point I made to go with it