17 Most Popular Poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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  • The End Of The Summer

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    in Famous Nature Poems

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox's "The End of the Summer" beautifully portrays the transition from summer to autumn through vivid imagery and personification. The birds celebrate the arrival of cooler weather, while nature's secrets unfold and the landscape transforms with vibrant colors. As the season progresses, the woods lose their glory, and the birds prepare to migrate southward. The poem concludes with a longing for the lively city. Wilcox's use of imagery creates a poignant reflection on the changing seasons and the fleeting beauty of nature.

    The birds laugh loud and long together
    When Fashion's followers speed away
    At the first cool breath of autumn weather.
    Why, this is the time, cry the birds, to stay!

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  • The Two Kinds Of People

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    in Famous Friendship Poems

    In "The Two Kinds of People" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, she divides humanity into two groups: lifters and leaners. The lifters are those who actively help and support others, while the leaners rely on others for assistance. The poem challenges readers to reflect on their role and urges them to become lifters, making a positive impact on the world.

    There are two kinds of people on earth to-day;
    Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

    Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understood,

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  • Our Blessings

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    in Famous Nature Poems

    “Our Blessings" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox encourages readers to reflect on the small, everyday blessings in life and to be grateful for them. She reminds us that blessings come in all forms, whether they be big or small, and that they are all around us if we only take the time to notice them. The poem employs poetic techniques such as imagery, where the speaker uses descriptive language to create sensory experiences for the reader, helping them to see and feel the blessings in their life. Alliteration is also used to draw attention to the beauty of the sky and repetition is used to stress the idea that blessings are all around us.

    Sitting to-day in the sunshine
    That touched me with fingers of love,
    I thought of the manifold blessings
    God scatters on earth, from above;

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  • A Holiday

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    in Famous Family Poems

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American poet who lived from 1850-1919. She was known as a poet even before she graduated high school. Many of her poems touch on themes of family and relationships. In this poem, The wife wants her husband to demonstrate he still loves her, "to prove the life of love", by spending quality time over the holiday with her and their children. Quality time on a holiday is how to take care of your family and demonstrate your love, not gifts! The Husband doesn't get it. He thinks she doesn't appreciate his hard work. He is running a business to take care of her, he just bought her a valuable gift and yet she still wants more from him.

    The Wife
    The house is like a garden,
    The children are the flowers,
    The gardener should come methinks

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  • A Fallen Leaf

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    in Famous Sad Love Poems

    When we are new to love, sometimes we fall too quickly and allow ourselves to be put in situations we end up regretting. Everything changes after that. Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) was an American author and poet who became known as a poet even before graduating high school.

    A trusting little leaf of green,
    A bold audacious frost;
    A rendezvous, a kiss or two,
    And youth for ever lost.

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    • Poem of the Day
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    I believe this poem is referencing the fleeting duration of the human life span. A leaf in the spring starts out green and tender. Until the frost comes in the fall and gives the leaf a...

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  • Friendship After Love

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    in Famous Friendship Poems

    In this poem, the poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, describes the frustration of former lovers who try to maintain their friendship. While they no longer wish to go back to the pain of their incompatible love, friendship after the intensity of love leaves them feeling "incomplete" and with "a sense of loss."

    After the fierce midsummer all ablaze
    Has burned itself to ashes, and expires
    In the intensity of its own fires,
    There come the mellow, mild, St. Martin days

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  • The Little White Hearse

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    in Famous Death Poems

    When Ella Wheeler Wilcox was about 28 years of age, she married Robert Wilcox. They had one child, a son, who died shortly after birth. The Rhyme Scheme is ABAAB.

    Somebody's baby was buried to-day--
    The empty white hearse from the grave rumbled back,
    And the morning somehow seemed less smiling and gay
    As I paused on the walk while it crossed on its way,

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    Featured Shared Story

    One cannot relate to the loss of a child unless they have gone through it. One can only feel the same pain of another if they have. This poem beautifully speaks of and shares this pain.

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  • It Might Have Been

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    in Famous Inspirational Poems

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) uses this poem to show that people have the power to make their own destiny. Most of the stanzas start with “We will (be/do/climb),” which brings attention to the belief that we will each become what we set out to become. This poem is made up of quatrains (four-line stanzas) that follow the ABAB rhyme scheme. Although Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born to poor family and received many rejection letters for her poetry, she remained optimistic and kept working hard for what she wanted.

    We will be what we could be. Do not say,
    "It might have been, had not or that, or this."
    No fate can keep us from the chosen way;
    He only might who is.

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  • A Naughty Little Comet

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    in Famous Funny Poems

    This classic, fun, and rhythmic poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) is a cautionary tale about a mother-daughter struggle that will be familiar to many parents of teenagers. The lesson taught is the virtues of a cautious and modest approach to life. The bold and fun loving daughter doesn't listen to the scolding of her wise mother and instead runs wild, reveling in her youth and beauty. In the end the mother's fears come true.

    There was a little comet who lived near the Milky Way!
    She loved to wander out at night and jump about and play.

    The mother of the comet was a very good old star;

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  • Thanksgiving

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    in Famous Holiday Poems

    Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet who lived from 1850-1919. She became known as a poet by those who lived in her home state of Wisconsin before she graduated high school. Although she came from a poor farm family, her mother enjoyed literature and encouraged her love of reading and writing. In this poem, she reminds the reader that if we focus on our worries, that’s all we’ll see, but when we start looking for our blessings (even in the midst of tough moments), we will be filled with joy. This poem is made up of octaves, or eight line stanzas.

    We walk on starry fields of white
    And do not see the daisies;
    For blessings common in our sight
    We rarely offer praises.

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