Barry's pond
Barry's pond, a small, winding body of water near Orchard Slope in Avonlea, is one of the most emotionally and symbolically charged locations in Anne's world. Though known to the local community by the prosaic name "Barry's pond," it is transformed by Anne Shirley's imagination into the "Lake of Shining Waters," a name that captures its shifting, ethereal beauty and its power to stir her soul. The pond is not merely a geographical feature; it is a living presence in Anne's inner life, a place where her capacity for wonder meets the natural world, and a silent witness to some of her most significant moments of joy, sorrow, and growth.
Geography and First Encounter
The pond is first seen by Anne on her drive from Bright River to Green Gables, as Matthew Cuthbert brings her home for the first time. From the crest of a hill, she beholds a body of water that looks "almost like a river so long and winding was it." A bridge spans it midway, and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shuts it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water is "a glory of many shifting hues—the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found." Above the bridge, the pond runs up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lies "all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows." A wild plum leans out from the bank "like a white-clad girl tip-toeing to her own reflection," and from the marsh at its head comes the "clear, mournfully-sweet chorus of the frogs." A little gray house peers around a white apple orchard on a slope beyond. Matthew identifies it simply as "Barry's pond," but Anne immediately rejects the name, declaring, "Oh, I don't like that name, either. I shall call it—let me see—the Lake of Shining Waters. Yes, that is the right name for it. I know because of the thrill. When I hit on a name that suits exactly it gives me a thrill." This act of renaming is Anne's first creative appropriation of the Avonlea landscape, and the pond becomes the first place she claims as her own through the power of imagination.
A Place of Beauty and Imagination
The Lake of Shining Waters is a constant source of aesthetic delight and imaginative fuel for Anne. She gazes at it from the window of the Avonlea school, using its beauty to escape the tedium of lessons and the sting of humiliation. During a long Sunday-school prayer, she finds solace by looking out at the lake, imagining "all sorts of splendid things." She describes the scene to Marilla: "There was a long row of white birches hanging over the lake and the sunshine fell down through them, 'way, 'way down, deep into the water. Oh, Marilla, it was like a beautiful dream! It gave me a thrill and I just said, `Thank you for it, God,' two or three times." The pond is also the setting for the Sunday-school picnic, where Anne experiences her first taste of ice cream and a row on the water with her schoolmates. The pond's beauty is so profound that it can even momentarily lift her from the depths of despair. When she first sees it from her window at Green Gables, she exclaims, "Oh, isn't it wonderful?" and later tells Marilla, "I can hear the brook laughing all the way up here." The pond, like the brook, is a cheerful, living thing that responds to her mood.
A Site of Crisis and Confession
The Lake of Shining Waters is also the scene of a pivotal crisis in Anne's early life at Green Gables. When Marilla's treasured amethyst brooch goes missing, Anne, desperate to attend the Sunday-school picnic, fabricates a dramatic confession. She claims she took the brooch and, while leaning over the bridge across the Lake of Shining Waters, it "just slipped through my fingers—so—and went down—down—down, all purply-sparkling, and sank forevermore beneath the Lake of Shining Waters." This false confession, born of a desire to escape punishment and attend the picnic, turns the pond into a symbol of her invented guilt and the lengths to which her imagination will go. The irony is that the brooch was never lost in the pond at all; it was caught in Marilla's shawl. The pond thus becomes the imaginary grave of a crime that never occurred, a testament to Anne's ability to weave a compelling narrative even under duress.
A Haunted and Romantic Landscape
Anne's imaginative relationship with the pond extends to the surrounding landscape, which she and Diana Barry populate with ghosts and legends. The spruce wood near the pond becomes the "Haunted Wood," a place of thrilling terror where a white lady walks and wrings her hands, and a headless man stalks the paths. This imaginative game, while providing endless amusement, also leads to genuine fear. When Marilla orders Anne to walk through the Haunted Wood after dark as a punishment, Anne is terrified, and the pond and its environs become a place of dread rather than delight. The pond is also the setting for Anne's dramatic reenactment of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott." She plays Elaine, the lily maid, floating down the pond in a flat-bottomed dory. The scene turns from romantic to dangerous when the flat begins to leak, and Anne is forced to climb onto a bridge pile. It is Gilbert Blythe who rescues her, rowing under the bridge in a dory. This incident, which could have been tragic, becomes a turning point in their relationship, as Gilbert renews his plea for friendship. The pond, therefore, is a stage for both high romance and real peril, a place where Anne's fantasies collide with the practicalities of the world.
Symbolic and Emotional Significance
Throughout the novel, the Lake of Shining Waters functions as a barometer of Anne's emotional state. It is a source of joy, a site of crisis, a backdrop for adventure, and a symbol of the imaginative life she cherishes. Its beauty is a constant comfort, and its name is a testament to her power to see the world differently. The pond is also a link to her friendship with Diana, as they share secrets and adventures by its shores. When Anne is forced to part from Diana after the currant wine incident, she mourns the loss of their shared world, which includes the pond. The Lake of Shining Waters is not just a place; it is a character in Anne's story, a mirror of her soul, and a reminder that the world is full of beauty and wonder for those who have the imagination to see it.
