“Thanksgiving” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an accomplished American poet, born in Johnstown, Wisconsin, in 1850. During her lifetime she published numerous books of poetry, as well as several novels other pieces of writing, including some on the subject of New Thought that she was keenly interested in.

A line from one of her poems has entered popular culture and is widely known to this day, even though many don’t know who first penned it: 

Laugh and the world laughs with you / Weep, and you weep alone.

With Thanksgiving Day coming up, in this blog post I’m going to present her poem “Thanksgiving”, found in the 1903 edition of Poems of Power. It cautions against taking things for granted and urges readers to appreciate the simple joys of life.

English language learners will find a vocabulary exercise below the poem, and there’s also a small selection of links to additional resources.

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We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.

Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hang about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives
And conquers if we let it.

There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.

But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.

Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble.
Farseeing is the soul and wise
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.

We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o'er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

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VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Match the words highlighted in the poem with the following definitions and/or synonyms:

• great pleasure (noun)
• external appearance, semblance (noun)
• brave, courageous (adjective)
• expand, puff up (verb)
• not noticeable, discreet (adjective)
• morning (noun)
• a choir; a part of a song (noun)
• fill or be full to the top (verb)
• lofty, inspiring (adjective)
• an expression of respect, admiration or gratitude (noun)
• kind, gentle and affectionate (adjective)
• try very hard to do something (verb)
• a supply of something (noun)
• magnificence, grandeur, brilliance (noun)

To check your answers, please click here.

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ADDITIONAL READING

Ella Wheeler Wilcox – a Wikipedia entry

Poems of Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Poems of Power

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