Great Regulars: Ella [Wheeler Wilcox]'s most famous poem

is titled "Solitude" from which come the oft-quoted lines, "Laugh, and the world laughs with you;/Weep, and you weep alone." The poem consists of three rimed eight-line stanzas. The poem continues to dramatize that same theme: that the positive attracts while the negative repels: "For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,/But has trouble enough of its own."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Ella Wheeler Wilcox

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Mankind cannot spoil the Lord's precious gifts, because "There lives the dearest freshness deep down things." Everything renews; man may disregard God's grandeur, but the sun will rise tomorrow.

If the sun goes out, what bright, more glorious orb may this God offer to place in its stead.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Father Hopkins' Sonnet

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Of course, the legs are no problem there, since a casket viewing entails only the upper torso, but the nose has been reconstructed by the mortician, and he has applied make-up and dressed her in "a pink and white nightie."

The magic of the mortician's hand has turned his poor girl's body into something she would have been proud to live in.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Piercy's 'Barbie Doll'

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Carving time and drawing lines upon the forehead results in the wrinkles that all old people have. But for his love, the speaker demands that time let his love go "untainted" so that the generations who follow will also be able to appreciate his love's beauty.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 19

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"Ye shady groves, your verdant gloom display"

The speaker then addresses the trees, asking them to "shield your poet from the burning day." She exaggerates somewhat as she calls their shade "verdant gloom." But the comparison is playful and serves well to foreground the brightness of the sun and the colorful morning sunrise.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Wheatley's Classical Influence

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