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Question:

Can someone explain to me what this means?

"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd."

It's a qoute from Alexander Pope.
I would like to know it's meaning and explanation.


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Athiest...'s answer is good. I was wondering about this same quote myself as I just saw the movie and loved this excerpt from Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard", "...an Ovidian heroic epistle inspired by the 12th-century story of Eloisa's (Heloise's) illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher Pierre Ab㩬ard, perhaps the most popular teacher and philosopher in Paris, and the brutal vengeance her family exacts when they castrate him, not realizing that the lovers had married..." (from Wiki)

The verse you ask about is from a letter Eloisa writes to the castrated Abelard. Eloisa has sexual feelings for him, which he can't return, and so she wants to FORGET him.

I would just add to Athiest...'s answer and paraphrase the verse:

'How happy those Vestal virgins must be, being close to divinity, giving up their sexuality for chastity. They can forget the world (and all its impure sexual desires), and in doing this, they are forgotten by the world (because they have given up their sexual desires and are out of touch with the rest of society). How their minds must be like eternal sunshine, spotless, without the stain of sexual longing. Every prayer they have, because of their purity and chastity, must be accepted by God. And, because of the holiness of their lives, they have no need of ego or ordinary wants--that is, they can resign (give up) their wishes.'

(My apologies to Alexander Pope. He said it much better. I'm not gunning for best answer here--I've barely added to Athiest...'s already good answer.)