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How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d
     —Alexander Pope

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Comments

1. Oh, great.  Another brash post on a controvercial topic.

   Let the flame war begin.

   — Mister Swill 

1. I just can’t win.

   — Nate 

1. I was just teasing!  The truth is I have no idea what that verse means.

   Of course, now that I write that, I have to figure it out.  First thing I need to do is look up “vestal”…

   Okay, “a virgin consecrated to the Roman goddess Vesta.“  It also simply means a chaste woman.  Gotcha.  Is he expressing envy toward young, naive virginal women?  Perhaps ironically?  Maybe it would make more sense in context…

   No, Google, I did not mean “How happy is the blameless vestal’s slot.“  Let’s see, there are lots of reviews of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” that quote those same four lines.  None of them offer any insight.  Let’s look it up by title…

   Good lord!  This poem is epic!  The summary at the bottom does little to shed light on the lines in question, but at least I understand now that Eloisa is writing this to her former lover, Abelard, who abandoned her after being tormented and castrated by her uncle’s hired goons.  Oh, and it’s a true story…

   Okay, got it.  Thanks to a very helpful article,* I learn that the poem is an expression of the struggle between Eloise’s commitment to God and her longing for Abelard.  Eloisa has joined a convent after the unfortunate castration of her lover and in the passage in question, she expresses envy for the virginal nuns.  Two stanzas later she voices how easy Abelard has it now that he’s a eunuch!

   Oh, yeah.  Fun, fun poem.

   *The URL for that helpful article, which for some reason doesn’t work when I turn it into a link:
   litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5408

   — Mister Swill 

1. Alexander Pope is famous for his satire. Keep that in mind, do0d.

   — Nate 

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