Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (November 5, 1850–October 30, 1919) was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion, and her autobiography, The Worlds and I was published in 1918 shortly before her death. is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the game, see: 1850 (board game) 1850 (MDCCCL) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday [1] of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 303rd day of the year (304th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... This article is about the art form. ...

Life

Wheeler Wilcox's poem plaque at San Francisco's Jack Kerouac Alley.

Ella Wheeler was born in 1850 on a farm in rural Johnstown, Wisconsin, east of Janesville, the youngest of four children. The family soon moved to 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. When about 28 years of age, she married Robert Wilcox. 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. Jack Kerouac Alley (formerly Adler Street) is an alleyway in San Franciscos Chinatown. ... Johnstown is a town located in Rock County, Wisconsin. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Downtown Janesville looking south on Main Street (2004) Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin. ... For other uses, see Madison (disambiguation). ... Theosophy is a word and a concept known anciently, commonly understood in the modern era to describe the studies of religious philosophy and metaphysics originating with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky from the 1870s. ... The New Thought Movement or New Thought is comprised of a loosely allied group of denominations, organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, visualization, and personal power. ...

Early in their married life, they promised each other that whoever went first through death 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 had no word from her Robert. This is how she tells of this meeting: Robert William Wilcox led unsuccessful rebellions to restore the monarchy. ... Year 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... The Temple of the Rose Cross, Teophilus Schweighardt Constantiens, 1618. ... An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. ... Max Heindel (1865-1919) Max Heindel - born Carl Louis von Grasshoff in Aarhus, Denmark on July 23, 1865 - was a Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. ...

"In talking with Max Heindel, the leader of the 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". Max Heindel (1865-1919) Max Heindel - born Carl Louis von Grasshoff in Aarhus, Denmark on July 23, 1865 - was a Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. ...

Several months later, she composed a little 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.". Affirmative prayer is a prayer to God that is focused on a positive outcome rather than a negative situation. ...

Wilcox made efforts to teach occult things to the world. Her works, filled with positivism, 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. For other uses, see Occult (disambiguation). ... The New Thought movement, a religio-metaphysical healing group, was founded by Phineas Parkhurst Quimby[1](1802-66) of Belfast, Maine, an American mental healer, student of mesmerism, and practitioner of hypnosis, who claimed he could heal by mere suggestion. ... Elizabeth Towne was the founder and publisher of Nautilus Magazine, a journal of the New Thought Movement. ...

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 built 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". This article is about the theological concept. ...

Poetry

A popular poet rather than a literary poet, in her poems she expresses sentiments of cheer and optimism in plainly written, rhyming verse. Her world view is expressed in the title of her poem "Whatever Is—Is Best" (suggesting an echo of Pope's "Whatever is, is right."). None of her work was included by F. O. Matthiessen in The Oxford Book of American Verse, but Hazel Felleman chose no fewer than thirteen of her poems for Best Loved Poems of the American People, while Martin Gardner selected "Solitude" and "The Winds of Fate" for Best Remembered Poems. For other uses, see Alexander Pope (disambiguation). ... Francis Otto Matthiessen (1902 - April 1, 1950) was a historian and literary critic influential in the creation of the field of American studies. ... Martin Gardner (b. ...

She is frequently cited in anthologies of bad poetry, such as The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse and Very Bad Poetry. Sinclair Lewis indicates Babbitt's lack of literary sophistication by having him refer to a piece of verse as "one of the classic poems, like 'If' by Kipling, or Ella Wheeler Wilcox's 'The Man Worth While.'" The latter opens: Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 — January 10, 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. ... Babbitt is a classic novel by the American novelist and playwright Sinclair Lewis, first published in 1922. ... This article is about the British author. ...

It is easy enough to be pleasant,

    When life flows by like a song,

But the man worth while is one who will smile,

    When everything goes dead wrong.

Her most famous lines open her poem "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.

"The Winds of Fate" is a marvel of economy, far too short to summarize. In full:

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.

Her quote Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes can be seen inscribed on a paving slab in Jack Kerouac Alley in San Francisco (next to the City Lights Bookstore)

Autobiography

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".

Works

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

• Book (Autobiography)
  • The Worlds and I, New York: George II Doran Company, c1918 www

• Poetry
  • The Invisible Helpers in Cosmopolitan 57 (October 1914): 578-579 www
  • The Voice of the Voiceless www
  • Disarmament www
  • Roads to God www
  • To An Astrologer www
  • Secret Thoughts www
  • An Ambitious Man www
  • An Englishman and Other Poems www
  • Hello, Boys! www
  • The Kingdom of Love www
  • Maurine and other Poems www
  • New Thought Pastels www
  • Poems of Cheer www
  • Poems of Experience www
  • Poems of Optimism www
  • Poems of Passion www
  • Poems of Power www
  • Poems of Progress www
  • Poems of Purpose www
  • Poems of Sentiment www
  • A Woman of the World www
  • Yesterday www

Poems of Reflection copyright 1905 M. A. Donahue& co. isbn not included in copy in hand Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ...

External links

• Ella Wheeler Wilcox biographies and poems
• Cordula's Web features illustrated poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
• Ella Wheeler Wilcox - an advanced soul
• Works by Ella Wheeler Wilcox at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Ella Wheeler Wilcox in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Ella Wheeler Wilcox Papers.Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.