Eloisa to Abelard

Imprisonment is a symbol of Eloisa’s misfortunes. Pope details Eloisa’s captivity in the convent by describing the similarities between being in a convent and being imprisoned. He connects this with Eloisa’s emotional state, writing that Eloisa sits in “deep solitudes and awful cells” (Line 1).

In addition, Eloisa’s vow of silence serves as a metaphor for feeling alone and trapped. When Eloisa thinks of Abelard’s name, she contemplates that it cannot “pass these lips in holy silence seal’d” (Line 10). Eloisa’s confinement to the convent means that she is sealed away from communicating with Abelard. Her vow of silence is a “death-like” (Line 166) punishment that only causes her to mourn to the loss of Abelard even more. Pope describes the architecture of the convent to explore this symbolism further, with Eloisa describing the walls of the convent as “relentless” and “lone” (Lines 17, 141). Eloisa compares herself in her cell in the convent to a person living in a tomb, “a neighbor of the dead” (Line 304). Eloisa’s feelings of loneliness and despair are captured in the symbolism of being trapped, isolated from the one she loves.