Alexander Pope's Eloisa to Abelard takes the form of a dramatic monologue/letter in which Eloisa addresses Abelard. It requires the same kind of interpretive attention that you gave to Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes and Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel but the subject matter is more straightforward.
That said, any long poem is easier to understand if you have some ideas about how to break it down into smaller coherent units. For our two previous long poems, I supplied an outline or "Map" (in the case of Absalom and Achitophel), or I indicated on the blog what how the poet had divided up the subject matter (Vanity of Human Wishes). With those models in mind, give some thought to how this poem is organized. Where do you perceive transitions or major breaks in direction? What key ideas or concerns guide the structure and movement of the poem?
Offer some suggestions about how to identify the smaller parts that together make up the whole of the poem, and about how those smaller parts work together. You don't have to take on the poem as a whole--feel free to identify one or two key moments of transition, or refine the divisions your classmates have identified. Just make sure to specify the line numbers (and a brief quote) where you see significant breaks or changes in direction.
Deadline: Wednesday (10/14), start of class.
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2 comments:
This poem, while long, is indeed more straightforward in progression and with only one voice it is much easier to track breaks in the poem.
One specific mark would be on lines 248-249 where she changes talking of herself and redirects the poem, speaking to Abelard or beckoning to his call. I think when we see the redirection of the subject it can be marked as a transition and this would be easier to note Eloisa's train of thought.
The shift of subject again can be noted at lines 303-304 where she finishes speaking of Abelard and talks of herself once again.
One place where I noticed a break or transition in the poem is around lines 288-289. Right before this she seems to be telling Abelard to come and compete for her heart and yet right after this transition she tells him to "Rise Alps between us! and whole oceans roll! ? Ah come not, write not, think not once of me" (lines 290-291). Eloisa, throughout the poem, seems to waver from wanting to be with him to not wanting to be with him.
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