Lyric Poem · Life
Solitude
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox · 1883
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;
Sigh, it is lost on the air,
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
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 nectar'd wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.
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.
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.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Solitude” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox — quilloak.com/poems/solitude-ella-wheeler-wilcox
Quick facts
- Poem
- Solitude
- Poet
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- Published
- 1883
- Length
- 24 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Life, Sad, Strength
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 24 lines · 3 octaves
- End rhyme
- ABCBDEFE in 67% of the stanzas. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox1850–1919
- Source record
- WikisourceSolitude by ella-wheeler-wilcox, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1883
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 5de6667aa34d4b0a…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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