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Wishing
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
About Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) was an American writer. She is best known for her poems which are written in fairly simple English and convey optimism and cheer. Some of her famous poems include 'The Man Worth While', 'The Winds of Fate', 'Voice of the Voiceless' and 'Solitude', which contains the famous lines 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you;/ Weep, and you weep alone.' Wilcox also penned her autobiography titled The Worlds and I.
Do you wish the world were better?
Let me tell you what to do.
Set a watch upon your actions,
Keep them always straight and true.
Rid your mind of selfish motives,
Let your thoughts be clean and high.
You can make a little Eden∗
Of the sphere you occupy.
Do you wish the world were wiser?
Well, suppose you make a start
By accumulating wisdom
In the scrapbook of your heart.
Do not waste one page on folly;
Live to learn, and learn to live.
If you want to give men knowledge
You must get it ere you give.
Do you wish the world were happy?
Then remember day by day
Just to scatter seeds if kindness
as you pass along the way:
For the pleasures of many
May be oft times traced to one,
As the hand that plants an acorn
Shelters armies from the sun.
Available Answers
- 1.What does the poet ask us to do to make the world a better place?
- 2.Summarise the stanza which talks about making the world wiser.
- 3.How will small acts of kindness help to make the world a happier place to live in?
- 4.Why do you think the poet begins each stanza with a question?
- 5.Is the tone of the poem optimistic or pessimistic? Cite examples from the poem to support your answer.
- 6.
Set a watch upon your actions,
Keep them always straight and true.- What do the words 'set a watch upon your actions' mean?
- Why does the poet want us to do so?
- What will happen if we follow the poet's advice?
4 more answer(s) available.