[0:01]Hello everyone. The following presentation is on the poem Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. This is the eighth poem on the list of the new English Home Language poetry for 2023 and the next few years to come.
[0:21]The following is some background to the poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Wilcox was born in 1859 and she passed away in 1919. She was an American journalist and poet. By the time she was a teenager, she was already publishing her poetry in various magazines. She studied at the University of Wisconsin and she published her first book at the age of 22. Throughout her life, she published various other works including two autobiographies and a series of novels.
[1:02]The following provides some background and context to this particular poem that Wilcox wrote, which contains her observations about the world around her. Wilcox wrote 'Solitude' after she had traveled to Wisconsin to attend the Governor's inaugural ball. On her way there, she sat across a young widow, who was dressed in black grieving for the loss of her husband. Wilcox tried to comfort her during the journey. When they arrived at the ball, Wilcox was so saddened that she could not comfort the woman. A while later, when Wilcox saw her own 'solitary' Face in a mirror, Wilcox remembered the crying woman and wrote this poem, where she reflects on the world's response to sadness.
[2:03]Consider the title of this poem, Solitude, for a moment. The poem describes different states of solitude and how in the end, we must all carry our sadness alone, because nobody can carry another person's grief. Ultimately, in this life, according to the poet, not only do we live alone, we will also die alone.
[2:32]Let us read through the poem. 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. They 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 long and lordly train, But one by one we must all file on Through the narrow aisles of pain.
[3:45]Line one reads, laugh and the world laughs with you. In other words, happiness within a person creates happiness in others. The feeling of happiness is contagious. Consider the words, the world. This is an example of a literary device called synecdoche. This is when a whole entity is used to describe only a part of something. For example, if there is a rugby match between the Springboks and the All Blacks, which are both only parts of South Africa and New Zealand, we would often say the match is South Africa versus New Zealand. In other words, we refer to a whole idea, a country to describe only one part, a country's sports team. In the case of this poem, the whole world is used to describe only a part of the world.
[4:47]That part being its people. Line two states, if you were to weep, which means to cry or express sadness, you weep alone.
[5:01]Here the poet describes the contrasting emotion to happiness, which is sadness. If you were to 'weep', according to the poet, you would experience your sadness in isolation. Human beings are not drawn to negativity and thus might not always avail themselves to others who are upset.
[5:27]Line three refers to the sad old earth. We have personification here, in which the earth is given the human quality of being sad. The interpretation of this could be that perhaps sadness is deeply ingrained in the characteristics of human life, because the sad old earth has to borrow its mirth. The word mirth means absolute joy accompanied by laughter. The idea that the sad old earth or mankind has to borrow its mirth, might suggest that people often borrow or look for external sources of happiness or happiness outside of themselves. Line four states that the sad old earth has had enough trouble of its own. If likened to people or humankind, people have their own problems and might not always want to be burdened even more by the troubles and sadness of others.
[6:36]Line five states, sing and the hills will answer. The word sing in this context refers to the expression of joy and happiness. If a person sings or expresses joy, the hills will answer. In other words, society or people will respond to that happiness and the joy will be a shared experience. However, if one has to sigh, which is to express sadness or despair, this sadness will be lost on the air, meaning there will be no response and no shared experience of grief. Line seven states the echoes bound to a joyful sound. The echoes bound is an example of personification. In this case, echoes are given the human quality of being able to jump or leap in a playful manner. In other words, a person's joy will echo, resound or reverberate when it is present.
[7:43]However, if a person is sad or going through a difficult time, these echoes will shrink from voicing care. The word shrink in this case does not mean to become smaller, but rather to recoil or to draw back in avoidance. Voicing care simply means to express compassion in response to sadness. In other words, unlike joy which will resonate and echo, the world will not share in your sorrows or your troubles. Your sadness will not spread and be shared with others around you, perhaps suggesting that sometimes our society can be selfish and unempathetic.
[8:34]Line nine reads, rejoice and men will seek you. The act of rejoicing refers to being happy and showing joy and delight. If you are a happy person, according to the poet, men will seek you. In other words, people will actively want to spend time with you and be in your presence. However, if you grieve, or if you are depressed and melancholic, people will turn and go. The same people who would want to be around you when you are joyful, are the same people who would leave you, because they would not want to deal with your sorrows. According to the poet, people want full measure of all your pleasure. In other words, people want to be surrounded by your positivity and your good times in abundance. But what they do not need is your woe, your problems and your sadness.
[9:39]Lines 13 and 14 read, Be glad, and your friends are many. Be sad, and you lose them all. The poet provides some advice to the reader. If you want to have many friends, you need to be a happy person. However, if you are a gloomy, negative person, you'll lose all your friends.
[10:06]Line 15 states, there are none to decline. In other words, there is nobody who will refuse your nectar'd wine. We can consider the idea of nectar'd wine literally and figuratively. Literally, nectar'd wine is just sweet wine. If you have wine to share, many will gladly accept your offer. Figuratively, the sweet nectar'd wine represents positivity and happiness. If you have positivity and happiness to share, many people will gladly indulge in your offer. However, when it comes to drinking life's gall, you are alone, or in solitude and by yourself. You must drink or be forced to experience life's gall. Gall refers to something bitter or cruel. Therefore, life's gall refers to the bitter and negative experiences of life.
[11:13]You will notice the same message is being repeated throughout the poem. Positivity will surround you with people, but dealing with life's problems is something that you will always have to do on your own.
[11:30]Line 17 states, feast and your halls are crowded. Consider the word feast. When we think of a feast, it is not merely just a single meal, but rather food in abundance. A metaphor is used here to compare a large amount of food to happiness. Literally, if you have a feast of food, your halls will be crowded. Picture in your imagination, a large banquet with people celebrating and enjoying food and drinks. In other words, figuratively, if your life is a feast of happiness, many people will surround you and indulge in your happiness with you. However, according to line 18, fast and the world goes by. To fast here means that food and celebration around food are limited, with this idea, there are negative connotations of deprivation and hardship. If there is a lack of food in the literal sense, and happiness in the figurative sense, the world goes by. In other words, if you don't participate or feast in the happiness of life, you fast. People will rather ignore you and will not want to spend time with you.
[13:03]Line 19 states that you should succeed and give. Success here could refer to either materialistic achievements such as being wealthy, or to emotional success, being happy or content in life. The idea of giving your success could refer to giving of your material successes, perhaps in a charitable sense, or if we are referring to emotional success, it could mean giving or sharing your happiness with others. According to the poem, if you succeed and give to others, it will help you live. In other words, you will live a prosperous and happy life. However, line 20 states, but no man can help you die. No man just refers to nobody. Nobody can help you die. Death is inevitable for every person. When someone dies, that person will go through the experience of death alone. Living life and all its experiences can be shared, but death is one experience that will always be a solitary one.
[14:26]Line 21 states that there is room in the halls of pleasure. The word room in this case means that there is space for many people. The halls of pleasure is a metaphor. In this line of the poem, the good times in life and happiness are compared to spacious halls or rooms filled with people feasting and celebrating. The halls or rooms have enough space for a long and lordly train. A long and lordly train refers to a procession of people taking part in the pleasures or joyous experiences of life.
[15:14]Even though life has room for many people who are experiencing joy and happiness, the poet goes on to say that despite this, one by one we must all file on through the narrow aisles of pain. One by one means that we will go through these aisles of pain individually or by ourselves. This is not only for a select few people, but rather, we must all ultimately experience pain at some stage. The journey through pain is one that everyone must make on his or her own. No one else can truly get us through our pains in life, except ourselves. The poet says that we must all file on. To stand in file means to stand in line, one person behind another.
[16:11]The poet compares the experience of pain in life to narrow aisles. In other words, constricted and isolating passages that can only fit one person at a time, unlike a great hall that can fit many.
[16:30]To sum up the ultimate message of the poem, would be to say that everyone must ultimately experience pain and suffering in life alone. Even though others can witness and attempt to support that person through his or her suffering, the painful experience is inevitably a solitary one. It is not to say that people are necessarily selfish. It is just that a person can really only observe another person's deepest feelings, but that they cannot truly experience them. Perhaps, instead of only seeking comfort in others as a solution to our problems, we need to face our problems directly and realize that only we create our happiness.
[17:24]Let us consider the themes that are addressed in this poem. We can say that this poem addresses happiness versus pain, the emotional state of others, and the individual versus the outside world. Let us now consider the tone in this poem. Remember that the definition of tone is the attitude of the writer regarding the subject matter at hand. We might say that the tone of this poem is melancholic, sad, and depressed. However, in the last two lines of the poem, it could be argued that the poet makes a point about a universal truth regarding the experience of pain in one's life. We could say that in this instance, the tone is realistic.
[18:18]Thank you for watching this presentation on the poem Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Please keep an eye out for the remaining poems for Grade 12 English Home Language.
