Concentration

The age is too diffusive.    Time and Force
    Are frittered out and bring no satisfaction.
    The way seems lost to straight determined action.
    Like shooting stars that zig-zag from their course
    We wander from our orbit's pathway; spoil
The role we're fitted for, to fail in twenty.
Bring empty measures, that were shaped for plenty,
    At last as guerdon for a life of toil.
There's lack of greatness in this generation
    Because no more man centres on one thought.
    We know this truth, and yet we heed it not:
The secret of success is Concentration.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet, born on November 5, 1850, and died on October 30, 1919. She was known for her works expressing optimistic views and moral lessons. Her most famous book was 'Poems of Passion'. Her poem 'Solitude' contains the famous lines, 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone'. Over her career, Wilcox became popularly known as a 'people's poet'.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

The Saddest Hour.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Solitude

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

Appreciation

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Earnestness.

        The hurry of the times affects us so
    In this swift rushing hour, we crowd and press
        And thrust each other backward as we go,
    And do not pause to lay sufficient stress
    Upon that good, strong, true word, Earnestness.
        In our impetuous haste, could we but know
        Its full, deep meaning, its vast import, oh,
    Then might we grasp the secret of success!
        In that receding age when men were great,
    The bone and sinew of their purpose lay
    In this one word. God likes an earnest soul -
        Too earnest to be eager. Soon or late
    It leaves the spent horde breathless by the way,
    And stands serene, triumphant at the goal.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Circumstance

Talk not to me of souls that do conceive
    Sublime ideals, but, deterred by Fate
    And bound by circumstances, sit desolate,
And long for heights they never can achieve.

It is not so.    That which we most desire,
    With understanding, we at last obtain,
    In part or whole.    I hold there is no rain,
No deluge, that can quench a heavenly fire.

Show me thy labour, I straightway will name
    The nature of thy thoughts.    Who bends the bow,
    And lets the arrow from the strained string go,
Strikes somewhere near the object of his aim.

We build our ships from timbers of the brain;
    With products of the soul we load the hold;
    Where lies the blame if they bring back no gold,
Or if they spring a leak upon the main?

T...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Success

As we gaze up life's slope, as we gaze
    In the morn, ere the dewdrops are dry,
What splendour hangs over the ways,
    What glory gleams there in the sky,
    What pleasures seem waiting us, high
On the peak of that beauteous slope,
What rainbow-hued colours of hope,
    As we gaze!

As we climb up the hill, as we climb,
    Our hearts, our illusions, are rent:
For Fate, who is spouse of old Time,
    Is jealous of youth and content.
    With brows that are brooding and bent
She shadows our sunlight of gold,
And the way grows lonely and cold
    As we climb.

As we toil on, through trouble and pain,
    There are hands that will shelter and feed;
But once let us dare to ATTAIN -
    They will bruise our bare hearts till they bleed.<...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Applause.

I hold it one of the sad certain laws
    Which makes our failures sometimes seem more kind
    Than that success which brings sure loss behind -
True greatness dies, when sounds the world's applause
Fame blights the object it would bless, because
    Weighed down with men's expectancy, the mind
    Can no more soar to those far heights, and find
That freedom which its inspiration was.
When once we listen to its noisy cheers
    Or hear the populace' approval, then
We catch no more the music of the spheres,
    Or walk with gods, and angels, but with men.
Till, impotent from our self-conscious fears,
The plaudits of the world turn into sneers.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Attainment

Use all your hidden forces.    Do not miss
The purpose of this life, and do not wait
For circumstance to mould or change your fate;
In your own self lies Destiny.    Let this
Vast truth cast out all fear, all prejudice,
All hesitation.    Know that you are great,
Great with divinity.    So dominate
Environment, and enter into bliss.
Love largely and hate nothing.    Hold no aim
That does not chord with universal good.
Hear what the voices of the Silence say -
All joys are yours if you put forth your claim.
Once let the spiritual laws be understood,
Material things must answer and obey.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Progression

To each progressive soul there comes a day
    When all things that have pleased and satisfied
Grow flavourless, the springs of joy seem dried.
    No more the waters of youth's fountains play;
Yet out of reach, tiptoeing as they may,
    The more mature and higher pleasures hide.
Life, like a careless nurse, fails to provide
    New toys for those the soul has cast away.

Upon a strange land's border all alone,
    Awhile it stands dismayed and desolate.
Nude too, since its old garments are outgrown;
    Till clothed with strength befitting its estate,
It grasps at length those raptures that are known
    To souls who learn to labour, and to wait.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox