What is the meaning of the quote 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?

Answer 1

"Vestal" refers to a vestal virgin, a virgin priestess of Vesta, a Roman goddess.

He is saying their fate, being virgins in a temple, is a happy one: They forget the world, and the world forgets them.

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind : everlasting happiness is there on their very clean mind,

their every prayer and wish is accepted :)

- kalyan

I slightly disagree with your answer. I think by him looking at this specific demographic of people in his society, in this case "Vestal Virgins", he is rhetorically asking the rest of us none vestal virgins how happy we think they might be in comparison to us. But when he says Vestal's lot i don't think he is in fact specifically zeroing in on vestal virgins as much as he is generalizing people in life who forget who they are or what they really wanted to be in life. They just shut themselves off into their own routinely selfish little worlds of meaningless victories over other people's seemingly detrimental achievements. In doing so these people assume emptiness or "no responsibility". They are the puppies covered in tonights dinner wondering why their families are so irritated because they've already forgotten what they did an hour before. The only thing that keeps them going is their unswerving faith being that it comes from a higher spiritual power once again they don't have to take blame for it or even remember it really as long as they have written it down. They just recite it everyday in an attempt to have any connection to the world since the real real world is too painful and "spotted" where most people's wishes are "resigned" (or in other words how many people unknowingly give up on their dreams)----Would we be happier to live life not remembering how many of the things we gave up hope on that we may have truly loved or going on to the very end of life continually recollecting all the things we didn't have the will or determination to see all the way to the end because of our own personal flaws and fears about what we have the potential to accomplish?

Jesse

Answer 2

This quote from Alexander Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard" praises the simplicity and contentment of a virtuous life, free from worldly distractions. The phrase "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" suggests freedom from guilt and regret, while "each pray'r accepted and each wish resign'd" reflects a peaceful acceptance of one's circumstances.

Answer 3

Quite happy.