(1) The title of his film comes from Alexander Pope's poem u2018Eloisa to Abelardu2019, and the stanza goes: u2018How happy is the blameless vestal 's lot!(2) Later on it occurs to the otherwise gullible Jude that u2018it had been no vestal who chose that missile for opening her attack on himu2019.(3) The taste of white bread did not cross my vestal lips until I was six, when the doctor recommended - before the days of fiber and oat bran - that it would be healthier for my grandmother.(4) Whether Pope meant the line to be ironic or not, the poem clearly comes down on the side of earthly, physical love and remembering, as opposed to the u2018 vestals u2019 who have never lived at all and have nothing to forget.
