SOLITUDE – ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

● Born in Wisconsin, USA in 1850.
● Started writing poetry when she was eight years old.
● Was a published poet by the time she graduated from
high school. She published several novels, essays and
volumes of poetry, and to work as a journalist.
● “Solitude” is one of her most famous poems.
● Believed in karma, reincarnation and spiritualism.
● Fought for animal rights and vegetarianism.
● Married Robert Wilcox in 1884. The couple promised
each other that the first to die would communicate with
the other from the afterlife.
● After 32 years of marriage, Robert Wilcox died in 1916.
Ella Wilcox was devastated because she could not hear
a communication from the afterlife from him.
● Ella Wilcox died in 1918.
(Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Wheeler_Wilcox; Image from:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ella_Wheeler_Wilcox,_1896_-_crop.jpg)
Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote “Solitude” after
she had traveled to Madison, Wisconsin, to
attend the Governor's inaugural ball. On her
way there, she sat opposite a young widow,
who was dressed in black and crying. The
poet sat with her and tried to comfort her for
the rest of the journey. When they arrived at
the ball, the poet was so depressed she
could hardly enjoy the party. When she saw
her own face in a mirror, Wilcox remembered
the crying woman and wrote this poem,
where she thinks about the world’s response
to sadness.
(Painting: Walter McEwen, A Girl Looking in a Mirror, after 1890,
Oil on canvas. The Clark Art Institute, 1955.806.)
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;

This is the main theme of the poem “Solitude”.

Do you agree?

Read the whole poem and then decide.

 Solitude - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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.
Sing, and the hills will answer; 5
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
 Solitude - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Rejoice, and men will seek you;

Grieve, and they turn and go; 10
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine, 15
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
 Solitude - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Feast, and your halls are crowded;

Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die. 20
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
 Solitude - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Line 1: “world” – synecdoche (a figure of
speech in which a part is made to
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; represent the whole or vice versa) for
Weep, and you weep alone; people.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, Line 1: “world laughs” - personification
Line 1-2: people who are happy attract
But has trouble enough of its own.
others, but if they are sad, others will leave
them to suffer alone.
Line 2: “weep” – emotive diction - cry
Line 3: “mirth”: laughter caused by
happiness.
The poet argues that the earth (which is
personified) has so much trouble and sadness
that it has enough of its own. However,
happiness (“mirth”) is rare, so the earth must
“borrow” happiness from elsewhere.
Wilcox implies that sadness is the natural state
of the world.
Sing, and the hills will answer; Line 5: “sing”: rejoice – loudly; “hills”: society or the
world
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
Line 6: “sigh”: despair - softly
The echoes bound to a joyful sound, Line 7: “bound”: to move in big bouncing
But shrink from voicing care. movements.
Line 8 “shrink from voicing care”: pull back to avoid
expressing sadness.

Wilcox describes how the “earth” (the landscape

and earth’s population) responds to happiness. If a
person sings, it feels as though the landscape
(“hills”) sing with them (literally, their singing echoes
in the hills) but if a person sighs with sadness, their
sadness disappears into the air and is gone as
quickly as a sigh. “Echoes” are personified as being
happy to bounce or skip in response to happy
sounds, but they do not want to repeat (“voice”)
sadness (“care”).
Wilcox implies that people share joy happily but
prefer that suffering is not shared.
Rejoice, and men will seek you; Line 9: “rejoice”: to feel joy or great happiness;
Grieve, and they turn and go; “men will seek”: people will look for, try to be
They want full measure of all your pleasure, with (note: “men” here does not mean only
But they do not need your woe. “males” - it means humanity in general. At the
time, such language was not seen as sexist)

Line 10: “grieve”: to feel great sadness.

Line 11: “full measure”: a full amount/all of

Line 12: “woe”: great sadness (an archaic word

- language not commonly used today).

The poet describes how people want to spend time with those that are
happy but tend to leave those that are sad to deal with their sadness
on their own.
Be glad, and your friends are many; Line 15: “decline”: say no to/reject; “nectared wine”: in
Be sad, and you lose them all,— Greek and Roman mythology, the gods drank nectar
(literally, the sugary substance that flowers secrete in
There are none to decline your nectared wine
order to encourage insects to pollinate them). The
But alone you must drink life’s gall. Greek and Roman gods were immortal and did not
. suffer as humans do. Therefore. “nectared wine” is a
metaphor for happiness and how attractive it is to
others. Happiness even seems to give people the god-
like ability to avoid suffering.

Line 16 “gall”: an extremely bitter substance produced

in the liver. Metaphorically, “life’s gall” is the bitter, sad
events in life. Notice how the poet contrasts the sad
events in life (“life’s gall”) with happiness (“nectared
wine”), and contrasts the effects of these.

The poet says that happy people tend to be

surrounded by friends, and sad people become
isolated.

Poem is build on opposites = positive and negative

Feast, and your halls are crowded; Line 17: ‘feast” to have a lot of food, wealth,
Fast, and the world goes by. success ;“halls”: large rooms where people gather.
The poet argues that if you metaphorically “feast” or
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
enjoy all that life has to offer, you will always be
But no man can help you die. surrounded by people (“your halls are crowded).
Line 18: ‘fast’: to give up food - fasting is private; “the
(We share our happy times and internalise world goes by”: the world passes by/ignores
our pain. Example?) someone. The poet argues that if you do not
participate in life and happiness (if you “fast”), people
will ignore you/will not want to spend time with you.
(“Fast, and the world goes by”).
Line 19: the poet says that if you are successful and
give generously to others (not only material goods,
but also if you give of yourself emotionally), you will
live a good life (“it helps you live”).
Line 20: “no man”: no person. The poet says that
literally, we all go through the process of death
alone, but also implies that withdrawing from others
is a metaphorical death and one that we always go
through alone.
There is room in the halls of pleasure Line 21: “the halls of pleasure” metaphorically, the spaces in
your life that are filled with joy and happiness.
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on Line 22: “a large and lordly train”: the procession of people
Through the narrow aisles of pain. that follow an aristocrat or royalty.
In these lines, the poet says that happy people attract others
and have large and loyal groups of followers. This contrasts
with the next two lines; alliteration

Line 23: “file on”: walk into a place in a line, one behind the
other.

Line 24: “aisles”: a narrow passage between rows of seats.

The poet describes pain as a “narrow” aisle. This metaphor

implies that people can only pass through pain on their own.
Others can only sit on the sidelines (imagine people seated
on either side of an aisle) and watch them, but cannot
experience their pain with them. The words “we must all”
imply that everyone will suffer pain, and that the journey
through pain is ultimately one that everyone will have to
make on their own.
 Do a four square analysis of the poem.

Discuss the structure of the poem. Things to consider:

● How is the poem divided into stanzas?

● What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
● Does the poem have a regular rhythm scheme (hint: count the number of syllables in each line and when
you read the poem, listen and decide if the rhythm is regular or irregular).
● How is the poem structured around pairs of opposites? How are these contrasts linked to the theme and
message of the poem?

Discuss the imagery and sound (phonic) devices in the poem. Things to consider:
● Has the poet used sound (phonic) devices such as assonance, consonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia,
rhyme or rhythm? Read the poem out loud and listen carefully. Remember that phonic devices are usually
used to emphasise particular ideas or feelings.
● Has the poet used sensory imagery (such as imagery that appeals to the reader’s sense of sight, smell,
hearing, touch or taste)?
● Has the poet used comparative figures of speech like metaphors, similes or personification?
● Has the poet used contrast-based figures of speech like irony, juxtaposition or paradox?
● How are the imagery and phonic devices linked to the themes in the poem?
 Do a four square analysis of the poem

Discuss the poet’s tone. Things to consider:

● What emotions do you think the poet is conveying in each stanza?

● Do you think that these emotions change as the poem progresses?
● What is the poet commenting on in each stanza, and what is her attitude in each case?
● Analyse diction (choice of words) where you think that the poet is using particularly emotive language.
Discuss the connotations of the words/phrases that you analyse.
● Use one word to describe the poet’s tone in each stanza. Be as specific as possible.

Discuss the themes and message of the poem. Things to consider:

● Do you think that this poem is simply making the brutal statement that people are ultimately selfish, shallow
and uncaring? Substantiate your response with references to the poem.
● “Love lights far more fires than hate extinguishes” (Ella Wheeler Wilcox). Is this idea reflected or contradicted
in the poem? Give reasons for your answer.
● Do you think that the poem is ultimately optimistic or pessimistic?
 Homework

Complete the questions in your

notes.