Positivity In Ella Wheeler Wilcox's Poem 'Solitude'

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"Solitude" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox creates a perfect image for what it feels like to be alone. The poem is worded beautifully and gives you an inside look on how the narrator truly feels. A different look of what solitude feels like is presented, as well as the narrator's daily struggles in life. "Solitude" made me more aware of how others feel when they are alone.
The start of the poem shows how the narrator sees the world. For example, when the narrator says, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you;/ Weep, and you weep alone;" (1-2). This part of the poem made me think of the new currently. The news is only filled with tragic stories on terrorist attacks, or how a plane crashed killing hundreds. Many look at the world as see nothing but evil. Notice the good in the world took not just the negativity that seems to surround our very breath. Positivity is a great factor in life, and because of this negativity is not favored.
In this poem no one want to help the narrator when she is grieving. No one wants to help her see her way through the darkness. No …show more content…

She still has to keep fighting through everything she has been through. This reminds me of Craig from the novel It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vinzzini. Both characters are struggling with feeling low. Both characters realize that others just want to see them happy, and negativity is not an "attractive" characteristic. Both characters deserve to find someone who accepts them for who they are and how they feel.
This poem connected with me as soon as I saw it. Although the poem repeats many of the same ideas, the poem gives great examples. Though the poem was repeated, it needed to be in order to get the point across. "Solitude" is an amazing poem, that connects many examples to how one would feel, during a time of sorrow.
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. "Solitude." Good Poems. Ed. Garrison Keillor. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. 254.

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