Since class was cancelled Wednesday, I'm extending the deadline on the current Eloisa to Abelard blog posts. We'll have to cover two days' worth of discussion on this poem tomorrow in order to clear the decks for The Love Suicides of Amijima on Monday. Respond to this post with your suggestions on what that compressed agenda should include:
- What issues have been resolved and can now be shelved?
- What conclusions have we come to?
- What interpretive questions that have come up so far seem to need some further discussion or resolution?
- What interpretive questions haven't been asked yet and should be?
- What would you like to know but haven't had a chance to ask yet?
You don't need to answer all those questions! Pick one to prompt your ideas. And feel free to take issue (kindly and collegially, of course) with a classmate's remarks.
Deadline: Friday (2/4), start of class.
8 comments:
During our last class, we discussed in detail the struggle Eloisa experiences between her love for God and her love Abelard. One thing that I would like to discuss in tomorrow's class is whether the ending offers a resolution of this conflict. Does she choose one love over the other or reconcile the two forces or perhaps neither? Also,in other blog posts, people brought up the reference to the "future bard," (359) and I was wondering how this fits in to the struggle between divine and human love.
I fell we need to discuss the other blog post about whether or not Eloisa is talking about God himself, or the God Cupid. One is very disrespectful and the other makes her a whiner. I also think it would be interesting to talk more about Abelard. Although as we discussed in class, he is not a huge role player as in having depth as a character, but talking about how his commitment to his work prevents their love. We could talk about how in that time period, a career always took precedent in contrast to today where relationships either end if that is the case, or the career is somewhat changed.
One thing we didn't really discuss is Eloisa's feelings towards the people that put her in the convent and what it might reveal about women's feelings in general towards a patriarchal society. Now, we sort of discussed this in discussing Eloisa's resentment towards God, but at the same time I wonder if her anger really is towards God. Perhaps she's merely angry at the organization (the Church) that put her there, not at a divine entity.
I think we need to sort through the paragraph which is found on lines 73-98. On the blog, there was a variety of different interpretations for this section of the poem. I would like to come to a conclusion about the meaning of it.
We need to talk about the ending of the poem especially the final paragraph. We have yet to discuss it in class, and I would like to know exactly what happened.
I think it would be wise to discuss how the Enlightenment and Eloisa to Abelard are related. It would help put the poem into perspective.
I would like to know how the poem was read at the time and what Pope's contemporaries thought of it. Was it well received? What kinds of interpretive claims did they make? How have literary critics and theorists revised their reading of the poem over time?
I also agree with Dema that I would like to know if Eloisa really resolved her conflict by picking one love over the other or somehow dealt with both of them equally.
I would also like to discuss about why Eloisa wrote about her conflicting emotions. Was it for herself mainly like a diary entry, or did she intend to let the public know of her troubles, in hopes that the tale of her sad romance would be passed on to the future? Or was it perhaps written for God to know about what her feelings?
Someone left a comment in the last blog saying that Eloisa prefers Abelard over God. That's risky to say since during that time period, religion centered around everything. What do other people think about Eloisa preferring Abelard over God?
I agree with Rachel and Dema- I would like to resolve the issue of Eloisa's struggle for her love of God and her love of Alebard. I am still confused as to which side she is leaning towards in her struggle.
Also, I'd like to discuss the end of the poem as well (I believe someone else mentioned this, and I agree!). We have yet to discuss what it means and also what it means in terms of Eloisa and Abelard's relationship, and in terms of Eloisa and God's relationship.
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