Eloisa to Abelard

"Oh name forever sad! forever dear! Still breathed in sighs, still ushered with a tear."

"Now warm in love, now with'ring in my bloom, Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!"

"Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, Some banish'd lover, or some captive maid, They live, they speak, they breathe what love inspires, Warm from the soul, and faithful to its fires, The virgin's wish without her fears impart, Excuse the blush, and pour out all the heart, Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole."

"Guiltless I gaz'd; heav'n listen'd while you sung; And truths divine came mended from that tongue."

"How oft, when press'd to marriage, have I said, Curse on all laws but those which love has made! Love, free as air at sight of human ties, Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies."

"Let wealth, let honour, wait the wedded dame, August her deed, and sacred be her fame; Before true passion all those views remove, Fame, wealth, and honour! what are you to Love?"

"No, make me mistress to the man I love; If there be yet another name more free, More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!"

"Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call, And if I lose thy love, I lose my all."

"I view my crime, but kindle at the view, Repent old pleasures, and solicit new; Now turn'd to heav'n, I weep my past offence, Now think of thee, and curse my innocence. Of all affliction taught a lover yet, 'Tis sure the hardest science to forget! How shall I lose the sin, yet keep the sense, And love th' offender, yet detest th' offence? How the dear object from the crime remove, Or how distinguish penitence from love? Unequal task! a passion to resign, For hearts so touch'd, so pierc'd, so lost as mine. Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state, How often must it love, how often hate! How often hope, despair, resent, regret, Conceal, disdain,—do all things but forget."

"Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he Alone can rival, can succeed to thee."

"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..."

"One thought of thee puts all the pomp to flight, Priests, tapers, temples, swim before my sight."

"See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul."

"Condemn'd whole years in absence to deplore, And image charms he must behold no more, Such if there be, who loves so long, so well; Let him our sad, our tender story tell; The well-sung woes will sooth my pensive ghost; He best can paint them, who shall feel them most."

"[It] excelled every composition of the same kind. The mixture of religious hope and resignation gives an elevation and dignity to disappointed love, which images merely natural cannot bestow. The gloom of a convent strikes the imagination with far greater force than the solitude of a grove."