Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born in 1866 in New York City, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. She was raised in the small towns of North Carolina and Alabama before attending Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Ella married architect Robert Wilcox in 1895; together they had three children. Ella began writing poetry in her mid-20s
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Her first book, Poems (1898), was well received by reviewers and readers alike. Her second book, Leaves of Grass (1900), is generally considered her best work. Its title is taken from Walt Whitman's poem "Song of Myself." Wilcox's poems contain images that reflect her deep knowledge of nature and the human condition.
"I am not afraid to go naked to nature," she wrote, "even in this age when all its forces are drawing me back into themselves."