Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard

Ian Gordon (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1717

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

Pope's poem, written in 1716 and first published in his collected Works of 1717, is based on the well-known love story of Peter Abelard (1079-1142), the famous French philosopher, theologian and master scholar, and Heloise (1101-64), the erudite pupil with whom he fell in love when he was forty and she was eighteen. Abelard was the intellectual idol of Paris and had a large following of students, numbering many thousands. At the time of his affair with Heloise he was living in the house of her uncle and guardian, a man named Fulbert, who was one of the canons of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. When the affair was discovered and Heloise found she was pregnant, Abelard conveyed her to his family chateau in Brittany, where she gave …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2570 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Eloisa to Abelard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5408, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Save this article