Details

Title

The Poetical Works of Lord Byron

Author

Byron, Lord [George Gordon Byron]

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Ward, Lock & Co.

Collection

Scans provided by and used with permission of Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library. From the L.M. Montgomery Collection.

Note

Finding where Montgomery read, quoted, or alluded to the work of Lord Byron is easy. Every volume of her journal and her letters and many of her novels cite Byron somewhere. His long poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” is the most frequently referenced (note all the passages she marked in the book above!). She used his lines “‘Tis pleasant sure to see one’s name in print / A book’s a book although there’s nothing in it” from “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” (a satirical poem about the relationship between writers and reviewers) to celebrate the publication of her essay “A Western Eden” in the “Prince Albert Times” in 1891 (see “The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery, The PEI Years, 1889-1900, eds. Rubio and Waterston, p. 72). Byron was a giant of the Romantic moment in literature, and his work was taught, studied, and celebrated throughout the 19th century and beyond. Excerpts of his work appear in multiple volumes of the “Royal Readers” that were used in Canadian schools; they are likely where Montgomery first read his work. This copy of the works of Byron was gifted to Montgomery by her pen pal George Macmillian in 1912, probably replacing the copy she had purchased with her essay prize money in 1896. The inscription reads “To Mrs. Ewen Macdonald, with sincere good wishes for Yuletide and the New Year. GBM. Christmas, 1912.” In her January 1912 letter to Macmillan, she wrote “Firstly, due thanks for the delightful little book you sent me at Xmas. It is charming all through. The picture of that delightful, suggestive, tantalizing gate in the frontispiece, is one of the dearest things I’ve seen for a long time. I think I shall have to write a poem on it.” [image of frontispiece forthcoming!] Montgomery has left carets, lines, and brackets throughout the book, along with an interesting array of illustrations and images. On page 817, she has circled the mention of Hector Macneil and added a note "A second cousin of my great-great-grandfather John Macneil L.M.M." Note that in Byron, Montgomery has included many *photos* of the places–Italy, Greece, Switzerland–mentioned, while in some of her other volumes, she has included more illustrations and drawings. She has also tucked an entire article about Byron from the "Bookman" magazine into the pages. Note, too, Montgomery's dated comment on page 180. In the middle of "The Age of Bronze," a political poem about land barons, Montgomery has written "Yes. 1918." next to the lines "May we hope the same / For outworn Europe?"

Genre

poetry