Our Lives by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"Our Lives" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox is a short lyric poem built on a single sustained metaphor: life is a song in which God authors the words while each individual composes the music. The distinction between those two creative acts is the poem's entire moral and philosophical argument — circumstance is given, but response is chosen. The opening stanza establishes the conceit directly. The words of the song — the raw material of a life, its events and conditions — are divine in origin and fixed. The music, however, is entirely within human control, and that music determines whether the song becomes glad, sweet, or sad. The second stanza reinforces that this creative responsibility is inescapable: whatever the words, whatever the rhyme or meter fate supplies, the individual must still set them to music. There is no opting out of composition. The implicit corollary is that one cannot blame God or circumstance for one's emotional register. Wilcox then illustrates the argument through two contrasting figures. The first man has words that are "free and strong" — inherently positive material — yet he sets them to music in a minor key. The result is a strain "replete with pain," and the man becomes what Wilcox calls "a repiner," someone who broods and complains. Crucially, he believes God gave him a sorrowful life, not understanding that the dirge quality is entirely his own addition. His words are described as "cheery"; the gloom is entirely self-authored. The poem diagnoses this as a fundamental misattribution: suffering is projected outward onto Providence when it originates in one's own habitual disposition. The second man is the counterexample. His words contain "an under current of sadness" — his circumstances are genuinely difficult, the raw material of his life less favorable than the first man's. Yet he sets those words to "ringing chords" and produces a paean of gladness. Where the first man converts advantage into misery, the second converts adversity into celebration. The contrast is pointed and deliberate: the quality of external conditions matters far less than the quality of the internal response. The concluding stanza draws the moral outward from the individual to the social. Choosing a "glad, triumphant measure" does not merely improve one's own experience; it gives "the world more pleasure." Attitude is understood here as having an ethical dimension beyond private wellbeing — the person who cultivates gladness contributes something to the human community, while the repiner withholds it. The poem belongs to Wilcox's characteristic vein of practical optimism and moral self-reliance, closely aligned with the broader New Thought and self-improvement currents of her era. The emphasis falls not on denial of difficulty but on the sovereignty of interpretive choice. Sadness in the words need not produce sadness in the music; the instrument of will stands between event and meaning. The verse form itself — a lilting, musical ballad meter with regular rhyme — enacts the argument, demonstrating through its own cheerful cadences that even earnest moral instruction can be set to a glad measure.
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox · First published 1873 · Genre: Poetry, Inspirational Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 267 words
First lines
Our lives are songs. God writes the words, / And we set them to music at pleasure; / And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, / As we choose to fashion the measure.
We must write the music, whatever the song, / Whatever its rhyme, or metre; / And if it is sad, we can make it glad. / Or if sweet, we can make it sweeter.
One has a song that is free and strong; / But the music he writes is minor; / And the sad, sad strain is replete with pain, / And the singer becomes a repiner.
And he thinks God gave him a dirge-like lay. / Nor knows that the words are cheery; / And the song seems lonely and solemn -- only / Because the music is dreary.
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is written in verse form with rhythmic meter, rhyme scheme, and lyrical structure characteristic of formal poetry.
- Inspirational Poetry — The primary purpose is to inspire and uplift readers through themes of personal agency, optimism, and the transformative power of perspective.
- Lyric Poetry — The poem emphasizes emotional expression and subjective experience through musical language, metaphor, and an intimate philosophical voice.
- Philosophical Poetry — The work explores fundamental questions about human free will, agency, personal responsibility, and the meaning and interpretation of life.
Tags
poetry · romantic · inspirational · emotional · philosophical · lyrical · personal reflection · relationships · love · human experience · spirituality · introspection
What this Textopian page supports
Our Lives is listed on Textopian as a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, dated 1873 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Ella Wheeler Wilcox
- Date: 1873 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Inspirational Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, Spiritual Poetry
- Length: 267 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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