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Ella Wheeler Wilcox (5 November 1850 - 30 October 1919 / Johnstown Center / Rock County / Wisconsin)
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Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion. Her most enduring work was " 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.
Biography
Ella Wheeler was born in 1850 on a farm in Johnstown, Wisconsin, east of Janesville, the youngest of four children. The family soon moved north of Madison. She started writing poetry at a very early age, and was well known as a poet in her own state by the time she graduated from high school.
Her most famous poem, "Solitude", was first ... more »
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Quotations
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''It has ever been since time began,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855-1919), U.S. poet, journalist. Blind, st. 1.
And ever will be, till time lose breath,
That love is a mood—no more—to man,
And love to a woman is life or death.''
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''There is room in the halls of pleasure
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919), U.S. poet. Solitude (l. 21-24). . . One Hundred and One Famous Poems. Roy J. Cook, comp. (Rev. ed., 1958) Reilly ...
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.''
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''Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855-1919), U.S. poet, journalist. Solitude, st. 3.
Fast, and the world goes by.''
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''Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919), U.S. poet. Solitude (l. 9-12). . . One Hundred and One Famous Poems. Roy J. Cook, comp. (Rev. ed., 1958) Reilly &...
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe''
Comments about Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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I have a treasury of poems of ella wheeler wilcox and there is a poem in it that you have not got. It is called Secret Thoughts. I have not checked if all poems from this book are in there yet. Book is called An Ella Wheeler Wilcox Treasury. Publishers Leopold B Hill London. It has a inscription on front page dated 1918, so is old.
Hello...I just came across a book by Ella...Poems of passion....Its a baby blue book with art nouveau vines with 3 flowers on the cover...In side it is inscribed by Ella....Love is the center and the circumference, the cause and sum of all things...Ella Wheeler Wilcox...What is something like this worth? ...who needs to see this.. and able to tell me what to do with this book?
I have an original of the book The Best Loved Poems of the American People, and this poem has been changed from the original. Words changed, punctuation changed, whole lines left out or in different order. This is how the poem appeared in print in 1936 and I believe it to be the correct one just by the line regarding powering the mill that grinds the FLOUR not flower! !
The Two Glasses
There sat two glasses, filled to the brim,
On a rich man's table, rim to rim;
One was ruddy and red as blood,
And one was clear as the crystal flood.
Said the glass of wine to his paler brother:
Let us tell the tales of the past to each other;
I can tell of banquet and revel and mirth,
And the proudest and grandest souls on earth
Fell under my touch as though struck by blight,
Where I was a king, for I ruled in might;
From the heads of kings I have torn the crown,
From the heights of fame I have hurled men down:
I have blasted many an honored name;
I have taken virtue and given shame;
I have tempted the youth with a sip, a taste,
That has made his future a barren waste.
Greater, far greater than king am I,
Or than any army beneath the sky.
I have made the arm of the driver fail,
And sent the train from the iron rail;
I have made good ships go down at sea,
And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me,
For they said, 'Behold how great you be!
Fame, strength, wealth, genius before you fall,
For your might and power are over all.'
Ho! ho! pale brother, laughed the wine,
Can you boast of deeds as great as mine?
Said the water-glass: I cannot boast
Of a king dethroned or a murdered host;
But I can tell of a heart once sad,
By my crystal drops made light and glad;
Of thirsts I've quenched, of brows I've laved,
Of hands I have cooled, and souls I have saved;
I have leaped through the valley, dashed down the mountain,
Flowed in the river and played in the fountain,
Slept in the sunshine and dropped from the sky.
And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye.
I have eased the hot forehead of fever and pain;
I have made the parched meadows grow fertile with grain;
I can tell of the powerful wheel of the mill,
That ground out the flour and turned at my will.
I can tell of manhood debased by you,
That I have uplifted and crowned anew.
I cheer, I help, I strengthen and aid;
I gladden the heart of man and maid;
I set the chained wine-captive free;
And all are better for knowing me.
These are the tales they told each other,
The glass of wine and the paler brother,
As they sat together filled to the brim,
On a rich man's table, rim to rim.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
I'd like to reprint one of these poems in a book I'm working on. Anybody know if Wilcox' work is in the public domain? I assume so but would love to have confirmation! Thanks....