Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, ca1919

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850 – October 30, 1919) was an American poet and journalist who was keenly interested in Theosophy, New Thought, and Spiritualism. An enormously popular writer whose verses were criticized by the academic world, her most famous lines are still quoted from her poem "Solitude":

Laugh and the world laughs with you

Weep, and you weep alone.

Theosophical Society involvement

Mrs. Wilcox was admitted as a member of the American Theosophical Society on October 14, 1913 in New Haven, Connecticut. Her autobiography, The Worlds and I, makes mentions of Theosophy, Elliott Coues, Emily Lutyens, and L. W. Rogers.

This poem appeared in The Theosophical Messenger in 1902, cited by William John Walters as a good way to convey some concepts of Theosophy to children.

You never can tell what your thoughts may do,

In bringing you hate or love,

For thoughts are things, and their airy wings

Are swifter than carrier dove.

They follow the law of the universe –

Each thing must create its kind – And they speed o'er the track to bring you back.

Whatever went out of your mind.

Writing career

The poem that first brought Mrs. Wilcox fame was "Solitude," 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 after in May 1883.

While her poetry was popular, it was not highly regarded by literary critics:

Beginning with the publication of Poems of Passion in 1883 and continuing through the first decades of the twentieth century, Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1) was quite possibly the most commercially successful and most ridiculed poet in the English-speaking world. On the one hand, her popularity was indisputable; as her obituary in the London Times put it, she was "the most popular poet of either sex and of any age, read by thousands who never open Shakespeare" ("Death of Ella Wheeler Wilcox").

Yet her reputation was also bad, as the Literary Digest noted: "Few poets in American letters made so sudden and sensational a success as she did with her initial volume, 'Poems of Passion,' and most persons to whom such luck befell would not have had the staying power to pass through nearly a generation of more or less kindly treatment as a joke" ("Current Poetry" 38).

Writings

Her literary work enjoyed great popularity with the general public, and was much appreciated by Theosophists. Irish poet and educator Dr. James Cousins mentioned "Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who, if she be not conceded a place with the major poets, has influenced many thousands by her verses."

Autobiography

• The Story of a Literary Career. Holyoke, Mass.: Elizabeth Towne, 1905?.
• The Worlds and I. 1918. Available as e-book at Google Books.

Poetry

• Poems of Passion. 1883.
• Poems of Purpose.
• Poems of Reflection. Chicago: M. A. Donahue & Co., 1905.
• Poems of Affection. London: Gay and Hancock Ltd, 1920.
• Poems of Cheer. 1915.

Several of her poems were the basis for silent film treatments:

• The Price He Paid, 1914.
• The Beautiful Lie, 1917.
• The Belle of the Season, 1919.
• The Man Worth While, 1921.

Books and pamphlets

• The Heart of the New Thought. Chicago: Psychic Research Co., 1903. Available at Gutenberg.org and phttp://newthoughtlibrary.com/wilcox-ella-wheeler/heart-of-the-new-thought/pages/heart-of-the-new-thought-004.htm New Thought Library].
• New Thought Pastels. Holyoke, Mass.: Elizabeth Towne, 1906. Available at Gutenberg.org, New Thought Library, [ Google Books].

Articles and pamphlets

Mrs. Wilcox was widely published in popular magazines and newspapers, and she also had dozens of her poems and articles printed in Theosophical publications.The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 88 poems and articles by or about Mrs. Wilcox.

• What I Know About New Thought. 1915. This pamphlet had a distribution of 50,000 copies, according to its publisher, Elizabeth Towne. One

Additional resources

• "Ella Wheeler Wilcox: American Poet & Journalist & Free Thinker" at EllaWheelerWilcox.org website.
• "Ella Wheeler Wilcox" in Wikipedia.
• "Ella Wheeler Wilcox" in Poetry Foundation website.
• "Ella Wheeler Wilcox Poems" at Poetry Hunter website.

Video

• "The Heart of the New Thought" on YouTube. Her self-help book is read aloud.