The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: "Protest." Wilcox, Ella Wheeler. Bartleby Online. https://www.bartleby.com/73/1695.html.

Note that parenthetical citations refer to the line number in which the quotation appears.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox was a popular American poet during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born in 1850 in Johnstown, Wisconsin and died in her home in Short Beach, Connecticut in 1919. Wilcox was a prolific poet, publishing multiple books of poetry during her lifetime. Her poetry is known for its plainness, often written with simple language in rhyming verse. Known as a relatively "upbeat" poet, Wilcox's work typically explores themes like love, joy, and optimism.

"Protest" represents a departure from Wilcox's typical style. It is written in free verse, with no discernible rhyme or meter, and is intensely political in nature. In two stanzas, Wilcox celebrates the concept of protest as the only means of combating an inequitable social system in the United States. The tone of the poem is not necessarily optimistic, but instead critical with a hopeful conclusion.

In the first stanza revolves around the concept of protest, specifically the difference between speaking out and remaining silent. The speaker criticizes silence as a "sin" and suggests that those who remain complacent are "cowards" (1-2). Speech, the speaker suggests, is the only tool at the disposal of the average citizen that can actually generate change.

In the second stanza, the speaker announces that she herself is protesting against the concept of America as a free land. Making allusions to slavery, child labor, poverty, and sexism, she declares that the United States can never be truly free until each one of its inhabitants experiences the same freedom as those in power.