East o’ the sun, west o’ the moon
Anne of Avonlea“East o’ the sun, west o’ the moon” is the expression used for the priceless imaginative knowledge Anne Shirley and Paul Irving share: a way into a joyful inner realm that the passage places above even the comforts of a palace.
Meaning and Imagined Geography
The phrase describes the geography of a happy land opened by imagination, not a destination mapped in ordinary physical space. There, joy blooms without end, the sky remains sunny, bells never sound out of tune, and kindred spirits abound. Anne and Paul both know the way to this realm, making the expression a compact name for their shared imaginative understanding.
Value and Significance
The passage treats this knowledge as an inborn gift, bestowed by fairies and beyond the power of the years to erase. Its worth is measured against material status: possessing it while living in a garret is better than inhabiting a palace without it. The expression therefore gathers the scene’s contrast between inward imaginative riches and outward comfort into a single, memorable direction.
