It is stated in the introduction to “The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery”, that some of the author’s favourite poets were pantheistic, which means they believed that all things were part of a Divine Nature and they often spoke of nature when writing in religious language.  This is something that Montgomery adopted, as can be seen in the following verse from her poem “After Drought”:

The saintly meadow lilies offer up
Their white hearts to the sun,
And every wildwood blossom lifts its cup
With incense overrun;
The brook whose voice was silent yestereve
Now sings its old refrain,
And all the world is grateful to receive
The blessing of the rain.

It is explained that, “For Montgomery writing poetry was more than a literary activity: it was almost a form of Holy Communion.  To read poetry was to glimpse into the realm of ideal beauty.  God spoke to man through Poetry and Nature.  In this trinity God was the most remote and inscrutable member.  Indeed, because we only see God darkly through his creation and the writings of great men, all dogmas (said the transcendentalists) are merely human products.  The poet is then a kind of priest who interprets the universe to men…”

Montgomery was a practicing Christian and was married to a Presbyterian minister.  In addition to these beliefs, the pantheistic religion saw Jesus as a poet himself, “one of the many precursors of Emerson”. 

Knowledge of Montgomery’s belief in the relationship between poetry, religion and nature can only add to the reading experience of her novels, short stories and poetry.

Source: The Poetry of Lucy Maud Montgomery