Emily Of New Moon

The Alpine Path is not an actual mountain trail but represents the challenging journey Emily knows she will face to become a professional writer. Emily encounters the phrase for the first time in a letter that Dean Priest sends her. He includes a poem, “The Fringed Gentian,” in his correspondence, and Emily especially likes the last stanza.

Montgomery herself thought of her writing career this way; in 1917, before she wrote Emily of New Moon, she published an autobiographical essay called “The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career.” Montgomery’s diaries in the Green Gables Heritage Museum reveal that she also clipped “The Fringed Gentian” from a magazine for inspiration.

Emily frequently experiences “the flash,” which is her word for the feeling of inspiration. The flash does not come to her in the weeks between learning that her father will die soon and when he actually passes away, and Emily is afraid it has left her forever. However, it does return when she moves to New Moon. It is often triggered by something beautiful in nature, an interesting person she would like to describe or by hearing another piece of writing, such as when Miss Brownell reads “The Bugle” to a different group of students and Emily asks her to repeat a line.