Eloisa to Abelard (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Alexander Pope
- First Published: 1717
- Type of Work: Epistle/letter in verse
- Genres: Poetry, Epistolary literature
The Poem
Alexander Pope’s “Eloisa to Abelard” is a 366-line verse epistle written in heroic couplets (pairs of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter), which explores a woman’s struggle to reconcile her desires for physical passion and spiritual contentment. Based largely on John Hughes’s English translation of Heloise and Abelard’s correspondence (1713), the poem retells a tragic story of love and separation. Peter Abelard, a twelfth century theologian, was hired to tutor Heloise, who was then sixteen or seventeen years old. The two fell in love and secretly married...
[The entire page is 1572 words long]
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