View source for Ella Wheeler Wilcox

{{short description|American author and poet (1850–1919)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ella Wheeler Wilcox
| image              = Ella W. Wilcox LCCN2014709802 (cropped).jpg
| alt                =
| caption            = Wilcox in 1915
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1850|11|05|mf=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Johnstown, Rock County, Wisconsin|Johnstown, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1919|10|30|1850|11|05|mf=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Branford, Connecticut]], U.S.
| occupation         = Author, poet
| signature          = Signature of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1897).jpg
}}

'''Ella Wheeler Wilcox''' (November 5, 1850{{spaced ndash}}October 30, 1919) was an American author and poet. Her works include the collection ''[[Poems of Passion]]'' and the poem "Solitude", which contains the lines "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone." Her autobiography, ''The Worlds and I'', was published in 1918, a year before her death.

==Early life and education==
Ella Wheeler was born in 1850 on a farm in [[Johnstown, Rock County, Wisconsin|Johnstown]], [[Wisconsin]], east of [[Janesville, Wisconsin|Janesville]], the youngest of four children. The family later moved north of [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]], after losing its wealth, as the result of her father's failed business aspirations and speculation. Wilcox's family held themselves to be intellectuals, and a mastery of the nuances of the English language was prized. During her childhood, Wilcox amused herself by reading books and newspapers, which may have influenced her later writing (most notably [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[The Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[The Diverting History of John Gilpin]]'' and ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'', in addition to the few other pieces of literature that were to be had in her home).

Around the age of 8, Wilcox turned to writing poetry as an outlet. When she was 13 years old, her first poem was published. After losing her subscription to ''[[Sunday Mercury (New York)|The New York Mercury]]'', and being unable to afford to resubscribe, Wilcox thought that if she could get a piece of literature published, she would at least receive a copy of the paper wherein her piece was printed. The piece that she submitted is lost, and Wilcox later admitted that she could not recall even the topic of the poem. Wilcox became known as a poet in her own state by the time she graduated from high school.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ellawheelerwilcox.org/Bio/bcos1901.htm|title=Ella Wheeler Wilcox|last=Edwards|first=Richard|website=www.ellawheelerwilcox.org|access-date=2018-05-22|archive-date=July 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706140811/http://www.ellawheelerwilcox.org/Bio/bcos1901.htm|url-status=usurped}}</ref> She was educated in a country school and attended [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|Madison University]] for one year before asking her mother to return home.<ref name="obit">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-ella-wheeler-wilcox-die/168489140/ |title=Ella Wheeler Wilcox Dies in Connecticut |date=1919-10-31 |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=2025-03-21}}{{Open access}}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Early poetry ===
Her poem "The Way of the World" was first published in the February 25, 1883, issue of ''[[The New York Sun]]''. The inspiration for the poem came as she was travelling to attend the Governor's inaugural ball in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]. On her way to the celebration, there was a young woman dressed in black sitting across the aisle from her. The woman was crying. Miss Wheeler sat next to her and sought to comfort her for the rest of the journey. When they arrived, the poet was so depressed that she could barely attend the scheduled festivities. As she looked at her own radiant face in the mirror, she suddenly recalled the sorrowful widow. It was at that moment that she wrote the opening lines of "Solitude":

:Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
:Weep, and you weep alone.
:For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth
:But has trouble enough of its own

She sent the poem to the ''Sun'' and received $5 for her effort. It was collected in the book ''[[Poems of Passion]]'' shortly afterward in May 1883. This collection was reported to have made $2000 that year.<ref>"Of Interest of Ladies." ''Western Recorder'', vol. 1, no. 35, 23 Nov. 1883, p. [4]. </ref>

=== Marriage ===
In 1884, she married Robert M. Wilcox of [[Meriden, Connecticut]],<ref name="obit"/><ref name=source>[[s:Woman of the Century/Ella Wheeler Wilcox|E W Wilcox at Wikisource]]</ref> where the couple lived before moving to [[New York City]] and then to Granite Bay in the [[Short Beach]] section of [[Branford, Connecticut]]. The two homes they built on [[Long Island Sound]], along with several cottages, became known as Bungalow Court, and they would hold gatherings there of literary and artistic friends.<ref>"A Celebration of Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Poet, Journalist, and Progressive Thinker," [http://www.branfordhistory.org/ellawheelerwilcox.html Branford Historical Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223060215/http://www.branfordhistory.org/ellawheelerwilcox.html |date=2010-12-23 }}</ref> They had one child, a son, who died shortly after birth. Not long after their marriage, they both became interested in [[Theosophy]], [[New Thought]], and [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]].[[File:E-W-Wilcox (cropped).jpg|thumb|Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1897]]

Early in their married life, Robert and Ella Wheeler Wilcox promised each other that whoever died first would return and communicate with the other. Robert Wilcox died in 1916, after over thirty years of marriage. She was overcome with grief, which became ever more intense as week after week went without any message from him. It was at this time that she went to [[California]] to see the [[Rosicrucian]] astrologer, [[Max Heindel]], still seeking help in her sorrow, still unable to understand why she had no word from her Robert. She wrote of this meeting:

{{quote|text=In talking with [[Max Heindel]], the leader of the [[Rosicrucians|Rosicrucian Philosophy in California]], he made very clear to me the effect of intense grief. Mr. Heindel assured me that I would come in touch with the spirit of my husband when I learned to control my sorrow. I replied that it seemed strange to me that an omnipotent God could not send a flash of his light into a suffering soul to bring its conviction when most needed. Did you ever stand beside a clear pool of water, asked Mr. Heindel, and see the trees and skies repeated therein? And did you ever cast a stone into that pool and see it clouded and turmoiled, so it gave no reflection? Yet the skies and trees were waiting above to be reflected when the waters grew calm. So God and your husband's spirit wait to show themselves to you when the turbulence of sorrow is quieted.}}

Several months later she composed a [[mantra]] or affirmative prayer which she said over and over "I am the living witness: The dead live: And they speak through us and to us: And I am the voice that gives this glorious truth to the suffering world: I am ready, God: I am ready, Christ: I am ready, Robert."

=== Religious writings ===
Wilcox made efforts to teach occult things to the world. Her works, filled with positive thinking, were popular in the [[New Thought Movement]] and by 1915 her booklet, ''What I Know About New Thought'' had a distribution of 50,000 copies, according to its publisher, [[Elizabeth Towne]].

The following statement expresses Wilcox's unique blending of New Thought, Spiritualism, and a Theosophical belief in reincarnation: "As we think, act, and live here today, we build the structures of our homes in spirit realms after we leave earth, and we build karma for future lives, thousands of years to come, on this earth or other planets. Life will assume new dignity, and labor new interest for us, when we come to the knowledge that death is but a continuation of life and labor, in higher planes."

Her final words in her autobiography ''The Worlds and I'': "From this mighty storehouse (of God, and the hierarchies of Spiritual Beings) we may gather wisdom and knowledge, and receive light and power, as we pass through this preparatory room of earth, which is only one of the innumerable mansions in our Father's house. Think on these things."

Wilcox was an advocate of [[animal rights]] and [[vegetarianism]].<ref>[https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=LAH19140219.2.52&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 "Be Kind to Animals"]. ''[[Los Angeles Herald]]'', Volume XL, Number 94, 19 February 1914.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Cuzner, A. T.|year=1918|title=Studies on Food Economics: Vegetarianism|journal=American Journal of Clinical Medicine|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044097073886&view=1up&seq=87 |volume=25|pages=59–60}}</ref> She died on October 30, 1919, at her "The Bungalow" home in [[Branford, Connecticut|Branford]].<ref name="obit"/> She was cremated.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-cremation-of-body-of-el/168489353/ |title=Cremation of Body of Ella Wheeler Wilcox |date=1919-11-07 |newspaper=Hartford Courant |page=24 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=2025-03-21}}{{Open access}}</ref>

==Poetry==

[[File:Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes by Ella Wheeler Wilcox - Jack Kerouac Alley.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1|Ella's poem plaque at San Francisco's [[Jack Kerouac Alley]].]]

None of Wilcox's works were included by [[F. O. Matthiessen]] in ''The Oxford Book of American Verse,'' but [[Hazel Felleman]] chose fourteen of her poems for ''Best Loved Poems of the American People,'' while [[Martin Gardner]] selected "The Way Of The World" and "The Winds of Fate" for ''Best Remembered Poems''.

She is cited in the anthology of bad poetry, ''Very Bad Poetry''. [[Sinclair Lewis]] indicates [[Babbitt (novel)|Babbitt]]'s lack of literary sophistication by having him refer to a piece of verse as "one of the classic poems, like '[[If—]]' by [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]], or Ella Wheeler Wilcox's 'The Man Worth While.'"
The latter opens: <!--This formatting is deliberate; it avoids differences in browser rendering of consecutive wikilines that have differing number of colon-indentations. -->
:''It is easy enough to be pleasant,''
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;''When life flows by like a song,''
:''But the man worth while is one who will smile,''
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;''When everything goes dead wrong.''

Her poem "Solitude" opens:

:''Laugh and the world laughs with you,''
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;''Weep, and you weep alone;''
:''The good old earth must borrow its mirth,''<ref>Some versions indicate the words are "For the brave old earth must borrow its mirth" or "For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth"</ref>
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;''But has trouble enough of its own.''

''The Winds of Fate''

:''One ship drives east and another drives west''
:'' With the selfsame winds that blow.''
:''     'Tis the set of the sails,''
:''          And Not the gales,''
:''      That tell us the way to go.''

:''Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate;''
:''     As we voyage along through life,''
:''         'Tis the set of a soul''
:''         That decides its goal,''
:''     And not the calm or the strife.''

Wheeler Wilcox cared about alleviating animal suffering, as can be seen from her poem, "Voice of the Voiceless". It begins as follows:<ref>Beers, D. 2006. ''For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States''.</ref>

:''So many gods, so many creeds,''
:''So many paths that wind and wind,''
:''While just the art of being kind''
:''Is all the sad world needs.''

:''I am the voice of the voiceless;''
:''Through me the dumb shall speak,''
:''Till the deaf world's ear be made to hear''
:''The wrongs of the wordless weak.''

:''From street, from cage, and from kennel,''
:''From stable and zoo, the wail''
:''Of my tortured kin proclaims the sin''
:''Of the mighty against the frail.''

She made an appearance during [[World War I]] in France, reciting her poem, ''The Stevedores'' ("Here's to the Army stevedores, lusty  virile and strong...") while visiting a camp of 9,000 [[United States Army|US Army]] [[stevedores]].<ref>{{Cite book
| last = Scott
| first = Emmett J
| author-link = Emmett J. Scott
| title = Scott's Official History of The American Negro in the World War
| access-date = 2014-02-09
| url = https://archive.org/details/scottsofficialhi00scot
}}</ref>
==Works==

===Poetry===
*[https://archive.org/details/maurineotherpoem01wilc ''Maurine and other Poems''] (1882, Jansen, McClurg & Company [Chicago])
*''[https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qaezk3co_ACITbDFQ1URQ4ruxNI2iZwxMoQmLveV2r-oAq1hkHuRJRsbiuVAgwIJ7T6Z9MnQ_S6CSWNORVYdw_-IfmBmf_gCBJnWSddqGcpUkKwHIluN-12Jzv_r91dpY7tP4462R0RlkSOfqtMMcdwLMiAXYaNlugfsGv22kxuWcQ2_BgGnKeFU5eXKMB-C2stHdANyPPhEbIBRGF66_jurQH-a7KYads6e1u4gzLIW9LsecKP2p4ti1epE3KjqDHmqIwKN Poems of Passion]'' (1883, W.B. Conkey Company [Chicago])
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eU4ZAAAAYAAJ Drops of Water]'' (1889, The National Temperance Society and Publication House [New York])
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yQc2AQAAIAAJ Poems of Pleasure]'' (1888, Belford, Clarke, and Company [New York])
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=8dc5AQAAMAAJ Poems of Reflection] (''1905, M. A. Donahue & Co. [Chicago])
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vPNDAQAAMAAJ Poems of Cheer]'' (1908, Gay and Hancock Ltd [London])
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=aM89AAAAYAAJ Poems of Progress and New Thought Pastels]'' (1909, W.B. Conkey Company [Chicago])
*''Poems of Affection'' (1920 Gay and Hancock Ltd [London])
*''Poems of Life'' (1921)

===Novels===
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=-c89AAAAYAAJ&dq=mal%20moulee&pg=PA5 ''Mal Moulée: A Novel''] (1885)
*''A Double Life'' (1890)
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=cddDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3 ''Sweet Danger''] (1892)
*''[https://books.google.com/books?id=mP5ZAAAAMAAJ&dq=a%20woman%20of%20the%20world%20ella%20wheeler%20wilcox&pg=PP1 A Woman of the World: Her Counsel to Other People's Sons and Daughters]'' (1904)

===Plays===
*''Mizpah'' (1906)<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/01/23/archives/mizpah-at-baltimore-mrs-ella-wheeler-wilcoxs-new-play-well-received.html |title="Mizpah" at Baltimore |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=1906-01-23 |page=9 |access-date=2024-01-11}}</ref> [[Selig Polyscope]] planned a 9-reel film adaptation in 1915.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JnhJAQAAMAAJ&dq=oscar.eagle.director&pg=PA773 | title=Nickelodeon | date=January 22, 2024 }}</ref>

===Miscellaneous===
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=C05OAQAAMAAJ The Heart of New Thought]'' (1902)
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=-Fs7AAAAYAAJ&dq=the%20story%20of%20a%20literary%20career&pg=PP2 ''The Story of a Literary Career''] (1905)
*[https://archive.org/details/newthoughtcommon00wilc ''New Thought Common Sense and What Life Means to Me''] (1908)
* ''[http://ellawheelerwilcox.tripod.com/www1.htm The Worlds and I]'' (1918)

===Adaptations===
Several of Wilcox's poems were the basis for silent films:
* ''[[The Price He Paid]]'' (1914)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/16391 | title=The Price He Paid | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 2, 2018}}</ref>
* ''[[The Beautiful Lie (film)|The Beautiful Lie]]'' (1917)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/16862 | title=The Beautiful Lie | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 2, 2018}}</ref>
* ''[[The Belle of the Season]]'' (1919)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/17464 | title=The Belle of the Season | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 2, 2018}}</ref>
* ''[[The Man Worth While]]'' (1921)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/10619 | title=The Man Worth While | publisher=American Film Institute | access-date=September 2, 2018}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

The titles for the ten episodes of the final, fifth season of the science fiction television series ''[[Orphan Black]]'' come from Wilcox's poem, "Protest".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://poets.org/poem/protest|title=Protest by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Poems &#124; Academy of American Poets}}</ref>

The lines "Laugh and the world laughs with you / Weep, and you weep alone" from Wilcox's poem "Solitude" feature several times in the 2003 Korean thriller film ''[[Oldboy (2003 film)|Oldboy]]''.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

[[Margaret Thatcher]] in a TV interview with [[David Frost]], aired 12th June 1995 on [[BBC One]], quoted lines for "the set of the sail and not the gale" from the ''Winds of Fate'' as illustrating that "it is not the circumstances that you see in life, but the way you approach them, the set of your own personality, that determines how you can go forwards".

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*  Ifkovic, Edward. ''Ella Moon: A Novel Based on the Life of Ella Wheeler Wilcox''. Oregon, WI: Waubesa Press, 2001. {{ISBN|1-878569-72-4}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{commonscat}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|Ella Wheeler Wilcox|works=by}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111203221022/http://www.ellawheelerwilcox.org/ Ella Wheeler Wilcox]}} The Ella Wheeler Wilcox Society website including biographies, bibliographies and writings
* [https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/ella-wheeler-wilcox Ella Wheeler Wilcox poems at the Academy of American Poets]
* [https://www.poeticous.com/ella-wheeler-wilcox Ella Wheeler Wilcox works at Poeticous]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1138| name=Ella Wheeler Wilcox}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ella Wheeler Wilcox}}
* {{Librivox author |id=340}}
* [http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00244 Ella Wheeler Wilcox Papers.] [http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles Schlesinger Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509153246/http://www.radcliffe.edu/schles |date=2012-05-09 }}, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4079475 Finding aid to Ella Wheeler Wilcox papers, 1887–1919], at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library
* {{Find a Grave|6875040}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Ella Wheeler}}

[[Category:1850 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:American animal rights activists]]
[[Category:American memoirists]]
[[Category:American vegetarianism activists]]
[[Category:American women activists]]
[[Category:American women memoirists]]
[[Category:American women poets]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Connecticut]]
[[Category:New Thought writers]]
[[Category:People from Janesville, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:People from Rock County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Poets from Wisconsin]]