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. 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. 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: "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". 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.". 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. 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".
solitude
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth ...[read poem]
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Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth ...
the traveled man
Sometimes I wish the railroads all were torn out,
The ships all sunk among the coral strands....[read poem]
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The ships all sunk among the coral strands....
the purple cow
THE PURPLE COW'S PROJECTED FEAST:
REFLECTIONS ON A MYTHIC BEAST,
WHO 'S QUITE REMARKABLE, ...[read poem]
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REFLECTIONS ON A MYTHIC BEAST,
WHO 'S QUITE REMARKABLE, ...
the lazy roof
The LAZY ROOF what Liked the Sun:
Or, How the Walls were Put Upon.
The Roof it has ...[read poem]
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Or, How the Walls were Put Upon.
The Roof it has ...
my feet
MY FEET: A Memoir, with a Phase
Resembling some Equestrian Ways.
My Feet they haul ...[read poem]
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Resembling some Equestrian Ways.
My Feet they haul ...
an alphabet of famous goops
AN ALPHABET OF FAMOUS GOOPS.
Which you 'll Regard with Yells and Whoops.
Futile Acume...[read poem]
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Which you 'll Regard with Yells and Whoops.
Futile Acume...
the floorless room
THE FLOORLESS ROOM: A Novel Sort
Of Argument Without Support.
I Wish that my Room h...[read poem]
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Of Argument Without Support.
I Wish that my Room h...
a woman's reason
A WOMAN'S REASON: A Quotation
To put an End to Conversation.
I'm Sure every Word th...[read poem]
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To put an End to Conversation.
I'm Sure every Word th...
the purple cow: suite
CONFESSION: and a Portrait, Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue!
Ah, Yes! I Wrote the...[read poem]
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Upon a Background that I Rue!
Ah, Yes! I Wrote the...
on digital extremities
On DIGITAL EXTREMITIES:
A Poem, and a Gem it IS!
I'd Rather have Fingers than Toes;...[read poem]
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A Poem, and a Gem it IS!
I'd Rather have Fingers than Toes;...
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