Eloisa To Abelard
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''Eloisa to Abelard'' is a verse epistle by
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
that was published in 1717 and based on a well-known
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
story. Itself an imitation of a Latin poetic genre, its immediate fame resulted in a large number of English imitations throughout the rest of the century and other poems more loosely based on its themes thereafter. Translations of varying levels of faithfulness appeared across Europe, starting in the 1750s and reaching a peak towards the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th. These were in the vanguard of the shift away from Classicism and towards the primacy given emotion over reason that heralded
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. Artistic depictions of the poem's themes were often reproduced as prints illustrating the poem; there were also paintings in France of the women readers of the amorous correspondence between the lovers.


The poem and its background

Pope's poem was published in 1717 in a small volume titled ''The Works of Mr Alexander Pope''. There were two other accompanying poems, the " Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" and the original version of the "Ode on St Cecilia's Day". Such was the poem's popularity that it was reissued in 1720 along with the retitled "Verses to the memory of an unfortunate lady'" and several other elegiac poems by different authors. "Eloisa to Abelard" is an
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
ian heroic epistle of which Pope had earlier published an example translated from the Latin in 1714, "Sappho to Phaon". His own original exercise in this genre was inspired by the 12th-century story of
Héloïse d'Argenteuil Héloïse (; c. 1100–01? – 16 May 1163–64?), variously Héloïse d'ArgenteuilCharrier, Charlotte. Heloise Dans L'histoire Et Dans la Legende. Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion Quai Malaquais, VI, Paris, 1933 or Héloïse du Paraclet, wa ...
's illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher
Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...
, a famous
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
ian philosopher some twenty years her senior. After their affair and marriage, her family took brutal vengeance on Abelard and
castrated Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...
him, following which he entered a
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
and compelled Héloïse to become a nun. Both then led comparatively successful monastic careers. Years later, Abelard completed the ''
Historia Calamitatum ''Historia Calamitatum'' (known in English as ''The Story of My Misfortunes'' or ''The History of My Calamities''), also known as ''Abaelardi ad Amicum Suum Consolatoria,'' is an autobiographical work in Latin by Peter Abelard (1079–1142), a me ...
'' (History of misfortunes), cast as a letter of consolation to a friend. When it fell into Heloise's hands, her passion for him was reawakened and there was an exchange of four letters between them written in an ornate Latin style. In an effort to make sense of their personal tragedy, these explored the nature of human and
divine love Love of God can mean either love for God or love by God. Love for God (''philotheia'') is associated with the concepts of worship, and devotions towards God. The Greek term ''theophilia'' means the love or favour of God, and ''theophilos'' means ...
. However, their incompatible male and female perspectives made the dialogue painful for both.''The Letters of Peter Abelard and Heloise''
Augusta State University.
In Pope's poem, Eloisa confesses to the suppressed love that his letter has reawakened. She recalls their former life together and its violent aftermath, comparing the happy state of "the blameless Vestal" with her own reliving of past passion and sorrow. The memory of it turns the landscape gloomy "and breathes a browner horror on the woods" (line 170). It disturbs the performance of her religious offices, where Abelard's image "steals between my God and me" (line 267). But, since relations between them are now impossible, she advises him to distance himself from her memory and looks forward to the release of death when "one kind grave" will reunite them (line 343). Pope was born a Roman Catholic and so might be assumed to have an insight into, and a special interest in, the story. He had, however, a recently published source to inspire him and guide his readers. This was ''The Letters of Abelard and Heloise: with a particular account of their lives, amours, and misfortune'' by the poet John Hughes, which was first published in 1713 and was to go through many editions in the following century and more. There are several instances of Pope's direct dependence on Hughes’ version of the letters. As one example, where Heloise exclaims "Among those who are wedded to God I serve a man; among the heroic supporters of the cross I am a poor slave to a human passion; at the head of a religious community I am devoted to Abelard only", Pope's Eloisa condenses this to the lines


Imitations and responses

The final lines of Pope's poem almost seem to invite a response from others: Whether this was deliberate or not, some seventeen imitations and parodies of his poem had been written by the end of the century, all but two of them cast as Abelard's reply to Eloisa and written in heroic couplets. Although Pope's poem provided the main inspiration, and was frequently mentioned by the authors in their prefaces, there was always Hughes' volume with its historical account in the background. In its later editions the dependency between the two was further underlined by the inclusion first of Pope's poem (from 1755) and then some of the principal responses in following editions. The poems in question are as follows: *''Abelard to Eloisa'' (1720) by Judith (Cowper) Madan, a disciple of Pope who published her poem anonymously before she was 20. Writing there from a male point of view, she matched Pope, who had adopted a female identity in his poem. For a while, the poem was misattributed to William Pattison, from the circumstance of its unaccountably appearing in his ''Poetical Works'' (1728). Beginning with the line "As in my Cell, low prostrate on the Ground," her poem appeared under one or other version of her names in some thirteen miscellanies published between 1747 and 1785. Often it accompanied Pope's poem there, or was even paired with his so as to make the correspondence clearer, as in the collection ''The Unfortunate Lovers, two admirable poems'' (1756). *''Fragment of an Epistle from Abelard to Eloisa'' (1721) by
Charles Beckingham Charles Beckingham (25 July 1699 – 19 February 1730-31) was an English poet and dramatist. Life Beckingham was born, according to the register of Merchant Taylors' School, on 25 July 1699 (Robinson's ''Register'', ii. 32). His father was a ...
, a rebuke that recalls Eloisa to propriety. *''Abelard to Eloisa'' (1725) by "Petrus Abelardus" ichard Barford "wherein we may observe, how high we can raise the sentiments of our heart, when possess'd of a great deal of wit and learning, with a most violent love." *''Abelard to Eloisa, in answer to Mr Pope's Eloisa to Abelard'' (1725) by James Delacour(t). *''Abelard to Eloisa'' (1747) by
James Cawthorn James Cawthorn (sometimes spelt Cawthorne) was born in Sheffield on 4 November 1719 and died in Tonbridge on 15 April 1761. A school master in holy orders, he was a minor English poet and imitator of Alexander Pope. Life James Cawthorn was the ...
. A response with many echoes of Pope's original, it was frequently reprinted into the opening decades of the 19th century. *''Abelard to Eloisa by an unknown hand''. *''Abelard to Eloisa, by a gentleman of Cambridge'' (1760). *''Abelard to Eloisa'' by Oliver Jaques in ''The London Chronicle'' (October 19–22, 1765); Abelard is there depicted as having almost conquered his passion. *In the unfavourably received collection ''Poems: Containing I. Semira, an elegy; II. Abelard to Eloisa; III. Ambition.'', (1778). The epistle to Eloisa was later published separately as by Samuel Birch (1757-1841). *''Abelard to Eloisa: a poetic epistle, newly attempted'' appeared anonymously in 1782, to be followed by a revised version claiming to be a "fourth edition" in about 1784. The latter was accompanied by two additional verse epistles, "Leonora to Tasso" and "Ovid to Julia", as well as other poems and translations. Also mentioned there was that the poem was originally written in 1777; roughly the same text was reproduced in the 1787 edition of Hughes' ''The Letters of Abelard and Heloise'', with the additional information that it had been written in 1777 by a "Mr Seymour". *''Abelard to Eloisa: An Epistle'' by Thomas Warwick (1783). It was followed early in 1785 by an enlarged and recast version titled ''Abelard to Eloisa: An epistle, with a new account of their lives and references to their original correspondence''.
''Abelard to Eloisa''
by
Edward Jerningham Edward Jerningham was a poet who moved in high society during the second half of the 18th century. Born at the family home of Costessey Park in 1737, he died in London on 17 November 1812. A writer of liberal views, he was savagely satirised later ...
(1792). Also a Catholic, Jerningham gives a greater sense of the historical setting, especially the quarrel with
Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...
and what Jerningham calls his 'sentence of excommunication', details available in Hughes but taken up by no other poet. *''A Struggle between Religion and Love, in an epistle from Abelard to Eloisa'' by Sarah Farrell (1792). *''Abelard to Eloisa'' by Lady Sophia Burrell (1753-1802), written in heroic couplets and published as "by a lady" in her ''Poems'' (1793). This showed itself hostile to monasticism and neglected to portray the setting as mediaeval. * ''Abelard to Eloisa'', in an early collection of poems by
Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor (30 January 177517 September 1864) was an English writer, poet, and activist. His best known works were the prose ''Imaginary Conversations,'' and the poem "Rose Aylmer," but the critical acclaim he received from contempora ...
(1795). In his preface, Landor discusses the difficulty of following Pope, but a commentator has suggested that he was also familiar with Hughes letters.


Broadening the genre

Over and above such direct imitations, Pope's poem inspired heroic epistles between other couples. Charles Augustine Lea declared on the title page that his "Eliza to Comus, an epistle" (1753) was written as an imitation. Noting its excess of redundant verbiage as compared to Pope's concise style, however, the ''
Monthly Review The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...
'' chided the author for his indiscreet comparison. The later ''Poetic epistles of Chrysostom and Marcella'' (Dublin 1777) likewise described itself as "dedicated to the memory of Abelard and Eloisa". Then in 1785 the fourth edition of Seymour's imitation was accompanied by two other epistles, "Leonora to Tasso" and "Ovid to Julia". The genre was to be broadened by two more imitations whose humorous success brought them frequent reprinting. The first was
Richard Owen Cambridge Richard Owen Cambridge (14 February 1717 – 17 September 1802) was a British poet. Life Cambridge was born in London. He was educated at Eton and at St John's College, Oxford. Leaving the university without taking a degree, he took up residen ...
's clever "Elegy Written in an Empty Assembly-Room" (1756). Although its preface describes the poem as "being a Parody on the most remarkable Passages in the well-known Epistle of ''Eloisa to Abelard''", its title also places it among the contemporary parodies of Gray's ''
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'' is a poem by Thomas Gray, completed in 1750 and first published in 1751. The poem's origins are unknown, but it was partly inspired by Gray's thoughts following the death of the poet Richard West in 1742 ...
'' whose object was to give them an unlikely setting. Imitation of lines from Pope's epistle in this context adds a new level of subtlety. A later work, ''Eloisa en deshabille, being a new version of that lady's celebrated epistle to Abelard'' (1780), was described at the time as "a profligate parody of Mr Pope's Epistle". In this a burlesque and witty version matched Pope's original line for line and in later editions appeared opposite his poem. It was written in
anapaest An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consist ...
ic measure with frequent disyllabic and trisyllabic rhymes, of which one of the most notorious was The poem has been ascribed to several authors, of whom Richard Porson was once considered the most likely, although a strong case has also been made for John Matthews. Where the parodies made fun of the passages they aped, the epistolary imitations echoed Pope's themes and language in order to demonstrate their kinship. Thus Richard Barford ends his poem with a similar sentiment to Pope's, that true lovers will express their kinship with Eloisa and Abelard in similar words: And the third and fourth lines of Seymour's opening, "If cold my blood, my pulse inactive grown,/ I am indeed allied to lifeless stone", is heavily dependent on Pope's "Tho' cold like you, unmov'd, and silent grown,/ I have not yet forgot my self to stone." (lines 23–24) Samuel Birch compares the felicity of the blameless youth to the jealous perturbation of one who has experienced passion. And, as Eloisa had experienced "twilight groves and dusky caves", so Barford's Abelard reports James Cawthorne too speaks of "dark, cheerless solitary caves, deep breathing woods and daily-op’ning graves" (which also figure in Pope) subject to "imbrowning glooms" (p. 143). Then, as a final example, Pope's passage beginning "Thy voice I seem in ev’ry hymn to hear" (line 269), in which the progress of the religious service is invaded by thoughts of the loved object, has its parallel in Edward Jerningham's similar description of sacred rites, from which "My guilty thoughts to other altars rov’d" (page 4). Imitation in these cases, as one commentator points out, is far from being plagiarism, but is a valid constituent of the genre. Furthermore, "since an author of an ''Abelard to Eloisa'' would presuppose for his readers a thorough knowledge of Pope's poem, the many replies are evidence of the popularity of ''Eloisa to Abelard'' and are evidence, also, of its importance as a literary force."


A poetry of sentiment

One of the reasons for the continued popularity of Eloisa to Abelard was the fact that emotion there was given primacy over reason in a way that heralds later literary trends. The poem, one critic comments, "makes Pope one of the forerunners of the Romanticists". As these trends developed in Europe, translations of Pope's poem were to lead the vanguard. Amorous melancholy had already been identified as a variety of that emotion by
Robert Burton Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''. Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burt ...
a century before Pope's poem. Melancholy is mentioned in its third line and recurs later, suitably inspired by a
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
landscape of gloomy forest, overhanging crags, tottering aisles and ancient tombs. It is equally the sentiment emphasised in George Pinto's 'canzonet' near the start of the 19th century, which is a setting of the passage beginning "Soon as the letters trembling I unclose, That well-known name awakens all my woes" (lines 29–48), with its repeated references to tears and sighs. Tears at the prospect of parting from the loved one are equally the subject of two English paintings inspired by the poem.
Angelica Kauffmann Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...
's ''The Farewell of Abelard and Héloïse'' (1780) pictures an absurdly young Abelard in Renaissance dress clinging to Eloisa's hand as the nuns welcome her at the door of the convent. In
Joseph Severn Joseph Severn (7 December 1793 – 3 August 1879) was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selec ...
's ''Scene from Pope's Eloisa to Abelard'', Eloisa is already in the nun's habit and looks back with regret at her kneeling lover as she is led into the cloister; the steps behind her are littered with rose petals from the ceremony that has made her just now the ‘spouse of God’. Though the poem is an epistle, it contains narrative memories and the passage portrayed in these cases is
John Opie John Opie (16 May 1761 – 9 April 1807) was an English historical and portrait painter. He painted many great men and women of his day, including members of the British Royal Family, and others who were notable in the artistic and literary ...
’s "Eloisa, a nun", a print of which appeared in 1793, only connects with the poem at a tangent. It features a nun rapt in contemplation, her face lit by the grated window above, who is sitting at a table on which are a bible, rosary, skull and hourglass. It was Mary Linwood who identified her embroidered version with the passage from Pope's poem beginning "How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot" when it was exhibited in London at the start of the 19th century. In the poem itself, Eloisa specifically distances her own conduct from this blameless spectacle. By contrast, some French paintings deriving from the poem feature erotic rather than spiritual rapture as their theme. One of the most notorious, Bernard d'Agesci's ''Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abelard'' (see above), is contemporary with Kaufmann's tearful scene. In it a young lady in
décolletage Cleavage is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage may be accentuated by clothing such as a low-cut neckline that exposes the division, and often the term is used to describe the low neck ...
looks up from her reading with head thrown back and pupils rolling upward. The book slipping from her grasp may well be a translation of Pope's poem, or even one of those compilations which gathered together imitations so as to form an extended correspondence between the lovers. While the emotion portrayed in
Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including He ...
's ''Héloise'' is not so extreme, her seated position and upward glance have more in common with d’Agesci's than with Opie's figure. Furthermore, a print of the painting was later used to illustrate the line "What means this tumult in a Vestal's veins" in an 1892 edition of the poem, carrying the same message of erotic rapture. Though the Eloisa of Pope's poem is a more nuanced character, her interpretation will depend on other factors operating at the time of her portrayal. One will be the impression left by secondary literature and particularly by studies based on more authentic documents than those which Pope himself had consulted. Another, and a strong one, will be the mediation of the very free translations of his poem in the countries to which it travelled.


Translations

The languages into which "Eloisa to Abelard" was translated included French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Russian and Latin. Versions in the last of these, it is true, were hardly consequential. The future Rev. George Wakefield made one as an undergraduate exercise near the start of the 1740s. A specimen translation of several of Pope's works, including this epistle, was put forward as a proposal in 1747; then, having gained subscribers, Dr James Kirkpatrick published the whole two years later. J. Wright's ''Epistola Eloisae Aberlardo'' followed in 1787 but was dismissed as a waste of effort in the ''Monthly Review''. The original letters on which Pope's poem was loosely based had been written in Latin of a high order in the first place. Turning it back into Latin (except as an academic exercise, according to the ''Monthly Review'') was a self-defeating exercise. In Europe there was a translation by Johann Joachim Gottlob am Ende (1704–77), several editions of which were published in Germany from 1742 onwards. But when it was sent to Pope himself by the author, he found it inelegant though faithful. In the following century a closer version in
hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...
s was published by the German Latinist
Georg Ludwig Spalding Georg Ludwig Spalding (8 April 1762 – 7 June 1811) was a German philologist born in Barth, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He was the son of theologian Johann Joachim Spalding (1714–1804). He studied philology and theology at the Universities of Göt ...
(Berlin 1804). In Italy, meanwhile, Vincenzo Forlani's Latin version in
elegiac couplet The elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years late ...
s had accompanied a very free imitation of Pope's poem by
Antonio Schinella Conti Antonio Schinella Conti (1677–1749), also known by his religious title as Abate Conti, was an Italian writer, translator, mathematician, philosopher and physicist. He was born in Padua on 22 January 1677 and died there on 6 April 1749. Life In ...
(Lucca 1792). This, however, was based on Conti's text rather than translated directly from the English.


The example of France

Since they were of French origin, interest in the story of Eloise and Abelard there predated that in Britain. An account of their "life, love, misfortunes" and a translation of their letters from the Latin by
Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy (13 April 1618 – 9 April 1693), commonly known as Bussy-Rabutin, was a French memoirist. He was the cousin and frequent correspondent of Madame de Sévigné. Born at Epiry, near Autun, he represented a fami ...
was published in 1687 and frequently reprinted, becoming the major source for subsequent literary reworkings. It served, for example, as groundwork for
Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps Pierre-François Godard de Beauchamps, born in 1689 in Paris, where he died on March 12, 1761, was a playwright, theater historian, libertine novelist and French translator. In his youth he was the secretary of François de Neufville, duc de Vill ...
’ three verse epistles exchanged between the former lovers in ''Les Lettres d’Héloise et d’Abailard mis en vers François'' (1714). Hughes had only published his English versions of the original letters in 1713, followed by Pope’s epistle in 1717. French translations of "The Rape of the Lock" began in the 1750s, stimulated by the complete edition of Pope's work of 1751. The first was a prose version by
Anne-Marie du Boccage Anne-Marie Fiquet du Boccage, née Le Page, (22 October 1710 – 8 August 1802) was an 18th-century French writer, poet, and playwright. Life Born in Rouen into the upper middle-class, she was educated in a convent in Paris. Anne-Marie Du Bo ...
(Berlin 1751); it was followed in 1757 by Gabriel-François Coyer's (1707-1782); by the Duchesse d’Aiguillon (1700–72), published from Geneva in 1758; and in the December 1773 issue of the ''
Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...
'' by Dattin de Chartres. In verse the pioneering work was a very free version by Charles-Pierre Colardeau (Paris 1756). More an adaptation in s, it retained its popularity over the following decades "despite its high-flown language and impersonal tone, its languor, its elegant circumlocutions and conventional epithets". Its success, according to a later preface, "brought to birth a torrent of little poems under the title
Heroides The ''Heroides'' (''The Heroines''), or ''Epistulae Heroidum'' (''Letters of Heroines''), is a collection of fifteen epistolary Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to: * Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christi ...
, Epistle, Letter, most of them forgotten by now"; indeed, Colardeau was to contribute to the flow with his own ''Armide à Renaud: Héroide'' (Paris 1759). But enough of those solely dedicated to Eloisa and Abelard remained to furnish omnibus collections of what purported to be their long correspondence. These subsequent compilations, taking Ovid's
Double Heroides The ''Double Heroides'' are a set of six epistolary poems allegedly composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets, following the fifteen poems of his ''Heroides'', and numbered 16 to 21 in modern scholarly editions. These six poems present three sepa ...
as their model, consist of strings of paired letters furnished by diverse authors that serve as context for translations of Pope's poem not only by Colardeau but subsequent versions as well. They include ''Lettres et épîtres amoureuses d'Héloïse, avec les réponses d'Abeilard, traduites librement en vers et en prose'' (Paris 1770), of which there was an augmented London edition in 1780. The first volume of this contained a biographical essay and Latin-based versions of the letters, followed in the second by a dialogue between translations of Pope and of French imitations. Contained there among other inclusions, Colardeau's version of Pope is paired with one of the earlier verse epistles in Abelard's name by De Beauchamps. A closer translation of Pope's poem by Aimé Ambroise Joseph Feutry (1720–89), first published in 1758, is replied to by
Claude Joseph Dorat Claude Joseph Dorat (31 December 1734 – 29 April 1780) was a French writer, also known as Le Chevalier Dorat. He was born in Paris, of a family consisting of generations of lawyers, and he joined the corps of the king's musketeers. He became f ...
’s 1760 imitation, ''Epître d’Abeilard à Héloïs''.
Louis-Sébastien Mercier Louis-Sébastien Mercier (6 June 1740 – 25 April 1814) was a French dramatist and writer, whose 1771 novel ''L'An 2440'' is an example of proto-science fiction. Early life and education He was born in Paris to a humble family: his father was a ...
’s ‘imitation’ of Pope's epistle (published in 1763) is followed by a later revised reply by Dorat dating from 1767. The succeeding ''Épitre d’Héloïse à son Époux'', an imitation of Eloisa's response to the ''Historia Calamitatum'', devised by Sébastien Marie Mathurin Gazon-Dourxigné (1720–84) but dependent on Pope for its occasion and Gothic setting, is followed by a reply by André-Charles Cailleau.
Bernard-Joseph Saurin Bernard-Joseph Saurin (1706 in Paris – 17 November 1781 in Paris) was a lawyer, poet, and playwright. Biography Saurin was the son of Joseph Saurin, a converted Protestant minister and mathematician who had been accused in 1712 by Jean-Bapt ...
’s 1765 ‘imitation’ of Pope appears without reply but has as companion piece scenes from a play based on the story. Other earlier works uncollected there include a response from Abelard by Henri Lambert d’Herbigny, Marquis de Thibouville (1710–84), published in Paris in 1758, and translated versions of Pope such as that of 1767 by Édouard Thomas Simon (1740-1818) and that of 1771 by Maximilien Henri, Marquis de Saint-Simon (1720–99). Translations into other Romance languages came much later than in France and demonstrate at times a dependence on the French example. In Spain, at least, there was resistance from the ecclesiastical establishment, where treatment of the theme was condemned by the neo-classical Jesuit
Juan Andrés Juan Andrés y Morell (15 February 1740 in Planes, Alicante12 January 1817 in Rome) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Christian humanist and literary critic of the Age of Enlightenment. He was the creator of world history and comparative literature (i ...
for its wild, pre-romantic imagery and for its blasphemous exhibition of love between those in holy orders. Once books began to appear from the press, the
Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
stepped in and banned them. These included Juan Maria Maury’s translation into
ottava rima Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio. The otta ...
(Malaga 1792) and a very free adaptation of Colardeau’s already free French version, ''Cartas de Abelardo y Eloisa'' (Salamanca 1796), together with a reply from Abelard of the translator’s own invention. The works are now ascribed to Vicente Maria Santibañez and were reprinted in the 19th century in the kind of omnibus editions using the double Heroides format that were still being reprinted in France. The earliest Portuguese translations to appear were the ''Carta de Heloize a Abailardo'' (Porto 1785), followed by ''Epistola de Heloyza a Abaylard: composta no idioma inglez por Pope e trasladada em versos portuguezes'' (London 1801), a version in nine-syllable verse which has been credited to José Nicolau de Massuelos Pinto. Many more followed in the first half of the 19th century and are increasingly mediated through the French imitators of Pope. The first imitation in Italian was
Antonio Schinella Conti Antonio Schinella Conti (1677–1749), also known by his religious title as Abate Conti, was an Italian writer, translator, mathematician, philosopher and physicist. He was born in Padua on 22 January 1677 and died there on 6 April 1749. Life In ...
’s ''Elisa ad Abelardo: Epistola'', a very free piece in terza rima beginning "''Abelardo, Abelardo! O quanto amore''", which was frequently anthologised. The 1792 Lucca edition of the poem also incorporated Vincenzo Forlani’s version in Latin elegaics on opposite pages. Thereafter, as in France, Conti’s poem was incorporated into a frequently reissued life and letters edition, where it was accompanied by Pope’s poem in English and Colardeau’s in French. Other versions were published soon after: in 1804 by Creofilio Smintéo, beginning "''In queste solitudini profonde''", and in 1814 by G.B. Boschini, beginning "''In queste oscure e solitarie celle''".


Northern Europe

At first French mediation of the poem was dominant in Germany via collections of Pope’s works that, though published from German presses, were translated directly into French. Among these was included the 1751 prose rendering by Anne-Marie du Boccage already mentioned. The first German-language ''Brief der Eloise an den Abelard'', published anonymously in 1760, was in fact based on Colardeau’s translation, the French text of which appeared opposite the German
alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Rom ...
s. Several more translations from the original English followed, though they were of varying quality. Between 1779-1804 no less than ten appeared in both verse and prose. Two of the most prominent, by
Gottfried August Bürger Gottfried August Bürger (31 December 1747 – 8 June 1794) was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, '' Lenore'', found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English and Russian ada ...
and
Johann Joachim Eschenburg Johann Joachim Eschenburg (7 December 1743 – 29 February 1820) was a German critic and literary historian. He was born and educated at Hamburg, going on to study at the University of Leipzig and University of Göttingen. In 1767 he was app ...
, were frequently published, in some cases together, both from German and from Austrian presses. Burger’s ''Heloise an Abelard'', more an improvisation than a translation, was followed in its Swiss edition (Zurich 1803) by Pope’s original; from the same press in 1804 appeared J. Rothstein’s free prose version, accompanied by Colardeau’s French translation and Pope’s poem as well. In Russia Pope’s "Eloisa to Abelard" appealed to the literary Sentimentalism that served as a prelude to Romanticism. The first translation was ''Epistola Eloizy ko Abelardu'', tentatively ascribed to
Mikhail Kheraskov Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov (russian: Михаи́л Матве́евич Хера́сков; – ) was Russian poet and playwright. A leading figure of the Russian Enlightenment, Kheraskov was regarded as the most important Russian poet by C ...
, which was published five times between 1765 and 1791. The next, the 1794 ''Éloiza k Abelardu'' by
Vladislav Ozerov Vladislav Aleksandrovich Ozerov (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович О́зеров) (11 October 1769 – 17 September 1816) was the most popular Russian dramatist in the first decades of the 19th century. Ozerov wrote five ...
, was in fact a translation of Colardeau's work. Likewise,
Vasily Zhukovsky Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (russian: Василий Андреевич Жуковский, Vasiliy Andreyevich Zhukovskiy; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19 ...
‘s version of 1806, produced at the height of interest in the theme, also drew its main inspiration from France. "No other literary work was more popular, in Russia as in France, than the epistle of Eloisa to Abelard. is translationwas very free, in the French fashion, by which it was quite possibly inspired." The connection of the Polish ''Listy Heloizy i Abeilarda'' (Kraków 1794) with Alexander Pope was at a distant remove. The work of Stefan Chomentowski and Tomasz Kajetan Węgierski (1756-1787), it consists of versions of Colardeau's reworking of Eloisa's epistle to Abelard and of his reply as imagined by Dorat. The choice of French models, and the fact that the book appeared while the Polish state was in the final throes of the partition crisis, is referable to the politics of national renewal instituted as part of the
Polish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in Western Europe, as the Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta (nobility) culture (Sarmatism) together with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth political system (Gol ...
. On the other side of the Baltic, Scandinavian translations began with
Göran Rothman Göran (Georg) Rothman (30 November 1739, in Husebybruk, Småland, Sweden – 3 December 1778, in Stockholm), was a Swedish naturalist, physician and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. His father, Johan Stensson Rothman, was a teacher of Logic ...
’s ''Eloisas bref til Abelard'' (Stockholm, 1765), to be followed in Sweden by the translations of Pehr af Lund (Stockholm, 1782), Joachim Wilhelm Liliestråle (Uppsala, 1782) and the anonymous and much freer Eloisa till Abelard (Uppsala 1822). There was no Danish version until the start of the 19th century, when
Steen Steensen Blicher Steen Steensen Blicher (11 October 1782, Vium – 26 March 1848 in Spentrup) was an author and poet born in Vium near Viborg, Denmark. Biography Blicher was the son of a literarily inclined Jutlandic parson whose family was distantly rela ...
published his ''Elegie til Abailard efter Pope'' in the journal ''Tilskuer'' in 1817.


Later thematic parallels

The more popular English treatments of the Eloisa and Abelard story, particularly the poems by Pope and Cawthorn, continued to be reprinted in the opening decades of the 19th century, bringing fresh imitations in their wake. They began with John Gwilliam's "Paraclete, or the Sorrows of Abelard and Heloise", a long epistle from Heloise in couplets that appeared first in ''The Mourning Wreath'' (London 1813) and was reprinted next year in ''The Bower of Bliss''. Of two later reworkings, J. Treuwhard's ''Abelard to Eloisa, a moral and sentimental epistle'', was privately printed in 1830. The ''Epistle from Abelard to Eloise'', originally published in 1828 by Thomas Stewart (of Naples), was in heroic couplets and prefaced by a poem to Pope. The Hughes letters, along with Pope's poem and a selection of imitations, were now beginning to be reprinted in the United States too and also brought poetic responses in their train. That by
Joseph Rodman Drake Joseph Rodman Drake (August 7, 1795 – September 21, 1820) was an early American poet. Biography Born in New York City, he was orphaned when young and entered a mercantile house. While still a child, he showed a talent for writing poems. He wa ...
, written before 1820, is a short lyric in octosyllabics with the message that shared suffering will lead to shared redemption beyond the grave. Though it carries the title "Abelard to Eloise" in a holographic copy, it was also published without it after his death.
John Witt Randall John Witt Randall (November 6, 1813 – January 25, 1892) was a minor poet and, for a brief time, a naturalist, but is best known for the collection of drawings and engravings that he bequeathed to Harvard University. Early life Randall was bo ...
's "Abelard and Eloisa", published in 1856, is a sequence of six poems, written in various forms and fashioned more as poetical addresses than letters. They follow the story of the lovers from courtship to death, and sections 2, 3 and 6 are spoken by Eloisa. At the end of the century there appeared a further ''Abelard to Heloise'' (1891) by the young Italian immigrant to California, Lorenzo Sosso. Two women also took up the subject later.
Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...
's "The Convent Threshold" (written in 1858) is, according to one source, "a thinly disguised retelling of Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard", although others are more cautious in seeing an influence. The poem is a surging monologue of enlaced rhymes in
octosyllable The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie de ...
s, driving along its theme of leaving earthly passion behind and transmuting it to heavenly love. It is also a rare example of a woman being allowed her own voice without male intervention. The Australian writer
Gwen Harwood Gwen Harwood (née Gwendoline Nessie Foster, 8 June 19205 December 1995) was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won nu ...
went on to use the situation as a weapon in the gender war. Writing under the assumed name of Walter Lehmann in 1961, she placed two modernistic sonnets, "Eloisa to Abelard" and "Abelard to Eloisa", in a magazine without its male editors realising that the letters of their first lines spelt an offensive message.Peter L. Shillingsburg, ''Resisting Texts: Authority and Submission in Constructions of Meaning'', University of Michigan 1997
p.160, sonnets on p.161
/ref>


References


Bibliography

* * Charrier, Charlotte
Héloise dans l’histoire et dans la légende
Paris 1933 ; pp. 444 – 470 *Effross, Susi Hillburn
"The influence of Alexander Pope in 18th century Spain"
Univ. of North Carolina 2004. * Fairer, David, "The Verse Letter" (chapter 4) in ''English Poetry of the Eighteenth Century, 1700-1789'', Routledge 2003
pp.60-78
* Froldi, Rinaldo

Barcelona 1989 * J.H. Heinzelmann, "Pope in Germany in the 18th century", ''Modern Philology'' 10.3, University of Chicago 1913
pp. 360-64
* Hughes, John
''The Letters of Abelard and Heloise: with a particular account of their lives, amours, and misfortune''
London: W. Lowndes, B. Law, T. Longman, R. Baldwin, and J. Bew, 1788. * * Wright, Lawrence S., "18th century replies to Pope's Eloisa", ''Studies in Philology'', University of North Carolina 1934
pp.519-33


External links

* * {{Authority control 1717 poems Works by Alexander Pope Love stories