POETRY SPOT

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Another poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox . . .

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 – 1919) was an American author and poet. Wilcox was also an advocate of animal rights and vegetarianism, died of cancer.

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The Winds of Fate

One ship drives east and another drives west

With the selfsame winds that blow.

Tis the set of the sails

And not the gales

Which tells us the way to go.

Like the winds of the seas are the ways of fate,

As we voyage along through the life:

Tis the set of a soul

That decides its goal,

And not the calm or the strife.

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From:

https://allpoetry.com/the-winds-of-fate

The poem compares the winds of fate to the winds of the sea, suggesting that our lives are not determined by external forces, but by our own choices. In the same way that a ship's sails determine its direction, it is our own decisions and actions that shape our destinies.

This idea is reminiscent of the themes of self-determination and individual responsibility found in other works by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, such as "Solitude" and "The Heart's Desire" (future posts). However, "The Winds of Fate" differs from these other poems in its focus on the external forces that may influence our choices, such as the "gales" of fate.

By acknowledging the existence of these forces, the poem suggests that while we cannot control our circumstances, we can still choose how we respond to them. This message of hope and empowerment is particularly relevant to the time period in which the poem was written, as it was a time of great social and economic change.

My comment:

It is equally applicable to our current age.