Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) was an American poet and writer from Johnstown, Wisconsin. She began publishing in her teens and became one of the most widely read poets of her day, with many collections and a syndicated newspaper column.

Poems of Passion (1883), considered daring at the time, became a bestseller. Her poem “Solitude” opens with the famous lines “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; / Weep, and you weep alone”. Her plain, optimistic verse made her hugely popular, though critics often dismissed it.