Poetry
Eloisa to Abelard
Alexander Pope · 1717
Opening lines
In these deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heav'nly-pensive contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing melancholy reigns;
What means this tumult in a vestal's veins?
Text quoted from rpo.library.utoronto.ca
Synopsis
A long poem in a single voice. Having become a nun, Eloisa has come by chance upon a letter in which her former master tells a friend of their misfortunes. She answers him. She describes the walls of the cloister, the pale virgins who keep watch before the altars and the statues of the saints who are learning to weep, and says that she, cold like them, has not yet turned to stone. She writes his name to blot it out with her tears, and calls herself the bride of God in vain, still a slave to love and to one man.
Context
The poem appeared in 1717 in its author's works and takes its form from Ovid, who had given it to letters of abandoned women. The source is an English translation of the real letters published four years earlier, made not from the Latin but from a French version; the Latin text had been printed in Paris in 1616. The poem prompted English imitations throughout the rest of the century, and was translated in France as early as 1751.
Who it is for
Three hundred and sixty-six lines of verse, translated into French. It is better to know the story of Heloise and Abelard: the poem recalls its episodes through rapid allusions.
Prizes and reception
One of the most imitated English poems of its century: a dozen French versions and imitations appeared between 1751 and 1774.
Sources for this page 12
The pages consulted to check this page.