Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Poems Of Purpose: "Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven is Love's location"
    Poems Of Purpose: "Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven is Love's location"
    Poems Of Purpose: "Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven is Love's location"
    Ebook84 pages57 minutes

    Poems Of Purpose: "Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven is Love's location"

    By Ella Wheeler Wilcox

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Born on November 5th 1850 in Johnstown, Wisconsin, Ella Wheeler was the youngest of four children. She began to write as a child and by the time she graduated was already well known as a poet throughout Wisconsin. Regarded more as a popular poet than a literary poet her most famous work ‘Solitude’ reflects on a train journey she made where giving comfort to a distressed fellow traveller she wrote how the others grief imposed itself for a time on her ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you, Weep and you weep alone’. It was published in 1883 and was immensely popular. The following year, 1884, she married Robert Wilcox. They lived for a time in New York before moving to Connecticut. Their only child, a son, died shortly after birth. Here we publish one of her many poetry books, Poems Of Purpose, that so endeared her to her audience. Ella died of breast cancer on October 30th, 1919.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateNov 12, 2013
    ISBN9781783945870
    Poems Of Purpose: "Hell is wherever Love is not, and Heaven is Love's location"

    Read more from Ella Wheeler Wilcox

    Related to Poems Of Purpose

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      Flood The World With Beauty

      Nov 1, 2019

      A big literary conference is probably not the best place for a poet dealing with a mental breakdown. But there I was at AWP, skittishly perusing tables at the book fair, under the garish lights of the Minneapolis Convention Center. For two years, par

      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Literary Dublin

      Oct 4, 2019

      Literary Dublin
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Best Book You’ve Never Read

      Jun 11, 2019

      In the decades since Richard Yates's death, Revolutionary Road has kept his reputation alive. The Easter Parade, by contrast, sold just more than 10,000 copies. The post The Best Book You’ve Never Read appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Living With Meaning

      Jul 31, 2022

      Living With Meaning
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Gifts From The Garden

      Nov 23, 2021

      Gifts From The Garden
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      An Enlightened Community

      May 23, 2023

      An Enlightened Community
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Thing About Egypt

      Dec 5, 2021

      The Thing About Egypt
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Everything You Need To Hygge Your Home This Autumn, According To Interiors Experts

      Jun 1, 2021

      Chances are you’ll have heard of the phrase “hygge” – pronounced “hoo ga” – which originated in Norway. It is a term that, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, refers to “a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feel

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Royal Reads

      Sep 9, 2020

      The Duchess of Cornwell has shared some of her favourite recent reads to inspire book lovers and promote reading. Her Royal Highness is an avid reader and patron of several literary organisations. Gothic horror meets psychological realism. A crime t

      1 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Recent Winners

      Dec 15, 2021

      Four poets won the 2021 Discovery Poetry Contest. They are Kenzie Allen of Toronto, Ina Cariño of Raleigh, North Carolina, Mag Gabbert of Dallas, and Alexandra Zukerman of Tel Aviv. They each received $500, publication of their work in Paris Review D

      24 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Two Poems

      Jul 1, 2024

      I can’t understand, after years of reading, the relevanceof metaphysics. How does it account for the wants of my mind breaking apart my body? I prefer to think of poppies,the variety fated to bloom blood-red. Or, of planting poppies, any flowers in t

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Vinaya Pitaka

      Jul 19, 2022

      The Vinaya Pitaka
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Where Did My Grandfather Go?

      Jan 23, 2024

      Where Did My Grandfather Go?
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Edge Walker

      Feb 20, 2019

      Edge Walker
      19 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Island (catullus 64)

      Mar 1, 2022

      Back then the evergreens tumbled downriverfrom the glaze-white runoff to the boot-stirred puddlesof amber young men who fulfilled our destiny,who clambered into ships, on horses, and in wagonspainting the newfound landscapes ours.Our calling was nobl

      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Must-Read Poetry: September 2017

      Sep 11, 2017

      Isn’t that one of the purest goals of poetry—to justify our breaths? To recognize that we matter? The post Must-Read Poetry: September 2017 appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      A Waking Dream

      Sep 19, 2019

      A Waking Dream
      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Bard In The Woods

      Nov 30, 2020

      Bard In The Woods
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Falling

      Jul 6, 2021

      Falling
      17 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Seven Ages Of Woman

      Aug 24, 2022

      The Seven Ages Of Woman
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      An Open Palm

      Apr 14, 2022

      An Open Palm
      10 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Six Poems

      Jul 1, 2018

      When I said, to my mother, What was a goodthing about me as a child?, my mother’sface seemed to unfurl from the center,hibiscus in fast motion, the anthersand flounces springing out with joy. Oh you wereenchanting, she breathed. What do you mean—craz

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Poems Of Purpose

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Poems Of Purpose - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

      Poems of Purpose by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

      Poetry is a fascinating use of language.  With almost a million words at its command it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries.  In this series we look at the world through the eyes and minds of our most gifted poets to bring you a unique poetic guide to their lives.  

      Born on November 5th 1850 in Johnstown, Wisconsin, Ella Wheeler was the youngest of four children.  She began to write as a child and by the time she graduated was already well known as a poet throughout Wisconsin.

      Regarded more as a popular poet than a literary poet her most famous work ‘Solitude’ reflects on a train journey she made where giving comfort to a distressed fellow traveller she wrote how the others grief imposed itself for a time on her ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you, Weep and you weep alone’. It was published in 1883 and was immensely popular.

      The following year, 1884, she married Robert Wilcox.  They lived for a time in New York before moving to Connecticut.  Their only child, a son, died shortly after birth.  It was around this time they developed an interest in spiritualism which for Ella would develop further into an interest in the occult.  In later years this and works on positive thinking would occupy much of her writing.

      On Robert’s death in 1916 she spent months waiting for word from him from ‘the other side’ which never came. 

      In 1918 she published her autobiography The Worlds And I.

      Ella died of cancer on October 30th, 1919.

      Index Of Poems

      A Good Sport

      A Son Speaks

      The Younger Born

      Happiness

      Seeking for Happiness

      The Island of Endless Play

      The River of Sleep

      The Things that Count

      Limitless

      What They Saw

      The Convention

      Protest

      A Bachelor to a Married Flirt

      The Superwoman

      Certitude

      Compassion

      Love

      Three Souls

      When Love is Lost

      Occupation

      The Valley of Fear

      What would it be?

      America

      War Mothers

      A Holiday

      The Undertone

      Gypsying

      Song of the Road

      The Faith We Need

      The Price He Paid

      Divorced

      The Revealing Angels

      The Well-born

      Sisters of Mine

      Answer

      The Graduates

      The Silent Tragedy

      The Trinity

      The Unwed Mother to the Wife

      Father and Son

      Husks

      Meditations

      The Traveller

      What Have You Done?

      Ella Wheeler Wilcox – A Short Biography

      Ella Wheeler Wilcox – A Concise Bibliography

      A GOOD SPORT

      I was a little lad, and the older boys called to me from the pier:

      They called to me:  'Be a sport:  be a sport!  Leap in and swim!'

      I leaped in and swam, though I had never been taught a stroke.

      Then I was made a hero, and they all shouted:

      'Well done!  Well done,

      Brave boy, you are a sport, a good sport!'

      And I was very glad.

      But now I wish I had learned to swim the right way,

      Or had never learned at all.

      Now I regret that day,

      For it led to my fall.

      I was a youth, and I heard the older men talking of the road to wealth;

      They talked of bulls and bears, of buying on margins,

      And they said, 'Be a sport, my boy, plunge in and win or lose it all!

      It is the only way to fortune.'

      So I plunged in and won; and the older men patted me on the back,

      And they said, 'You are a sport, my boy, a good sport!'

      And I was very glad.

      But now I wish I had lost all I ventured on that day -

      Yes, wish I had lost it all.

      For it was the wrong way,

      And pushed me to my fall.

      I was a young man, and the gay world called me to come;

      Gay women and gay men called to me, crying:

      'Be a sport; be a good sport!

      Fill our glasses and let us fill yours.

      We are young but once; let us dance and sing,

      And drive the dull hours of night until they stand at bay

      Against the shining bayonets of day.'

      So I filled my glass, and I filled their glasses, over and over again,

      And I sang and danced and drank, and drank and danced and sang,

      And I heard them cry, 'He is a sport, a good sport!'

      As they held their glasses out to be filled again.

      And I was very glad.

      Oh the madness of youth and song and dance and wine,

      Of woman's eyes and lips, when the night dies in the arms of dawn!

      And now I wish I had not gone that way.

      Now I wish I had not heard them say,

      'He is a sport, a good sport!'

      For I am old who should be young.

      The splendid vigour of my youth I flung

      Under the feet of a mad, unthinking throng.

      My strength went out with wine and dance and song;

      Unto the winds of earth I tossed like chaff,

      With idle jest and laugh,

      The pride of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1