Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote "Solitude" in 1883 after comforting a weeping young widow on a train to Madison, Wisconsin — and then walking into the glitter of an inaugural ball. The contrast produced the most quoted opening couplet of its era: "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; / Weep, and you weep alone." She sold the poem for five dollars.

Critics condescended to her all her life; the public could not get enough. Her plainspoken verses of optimism and grit made her one of the most popular poets in America, clipped from newspapers and pinned above desks long before anyone coined the word "inspirational."