What does "hope springs eternal" mean?

[Sunshine40]

A friend of mine recently used that phrase, and I have seen it elsewhere, but I do not get what it is really supposed to mean...and where does the reference come from?

Thanks,

-Sunshine

[skalenfehl]

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never Is, but always To be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

it means no matter how impossible something may seem, one always has hope, especially amidst adversity.

Edited August 3, 2012 by skalenfehl

[Vort]

A friend of mine recently used that phrase, and I have seen it elsewhere, but I do not get what it is really supposed to mean...and where does the reference come from?

I was going to write something snarky for fun, but it might come across as mocking or making fun (which isn't my intent), so I guess I'll just answer. It means that hopefulness always pops up in the unlikeliest and most gloomy of situations.

A spring or fountain (also called a fount/font or a source) is a place, usually in the lower mountain regions, where water "springs" from the ground to form a small rivulet (called, appropriately enough, a "spring"). Many rivers begin as just such a spring. The idea of a spring (or fountain, or fount) is very common in scripture, usually as a symbol for the birth of something good or noble, as in Proverbs 10:11 "The mouth of a righteous man is a well (or fountain) of life" (but not always; e.g. 1 Nephi 12:16 references Lehi's "fountain of filthy water").

The saying builds on this meaning. It originates (according to the infallible -->source<-- of the Internet) from a poem by Alexander Pope called "An Essay on Man", and which includes the couplet already quoted by skalenfehl.

[Dravin]

It can also be used with snark to communicate, "There is always hope but I don't have much/any." or that having hope is otherwise misplaced or a long shot. Say for instance this exchange.

Person A: Well, Bob just turned 30 and still no marriage prospects.

Person B: Isn't Bob the guy who doesn't practice any sort of personal hygiene and only speaks in monosyllabic grunts?

Person A: Yes, that's him.

Person B: Well, hope springs eternal.

[Guest]

That quote comes from An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope. The entire poem is Pope's philosophy on man's relationship with God. The poem is comprised of 4 epistles summarized as follows:

I - Nature and State of Man with respect to the Universe

II - Nature and State of Man with respect to Himself

III - Nature and State of Man with respect to Society

IV - Nature and State of Man with respect to Happiness

This particular quote appears in the 3rd section of the first epistle. Here's the entire section:

III. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,

All but the page prescribed, their present state:

From brutes what men, from men what spirits know:

Or who could suffer being here below?

The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,

Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?

Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food,

And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.

Oh, blindness to the future! kindly given,

That each may fill the circle, marked by Heaven:

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,

A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,

Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,

And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar;

Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore.

What future bliss, He gives not thee to know,

But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind

Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind;

His soul, proud science never taught to stray

Far as the solar walk, or milky way;

Yet simple Nature to his hope has given,

Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven;

Some safer world in depth of woods embraced,

Some happier island in the watery waste,

Where slaves once more their native land behold,

No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.

To be, contents his natural desire,

He asks no angel’s wing, no seraph’s fire;

But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,

His faithful dog shall bear him company.

So, yes, skal is correct that the paragraph shows that it is in man's nature to be always hopeful, but this entire section demonstrates that Man's happiness depends on hope stemming from Man's limited understanding of his future state. And it is by God's design that we are not to know what the future holds so we will always hold hope that whatever is in the future is going to be better. And it is important for our happiness to accept that whatever happens is by God's design and is always good. Everything happens for the best and man should not question God’s purposes because man is not capable of understanding it. Everything in the universe has its place and is fatalistic - that is, God decides everything and we have no say in the matter. This conflicts with Pope's adherence to free will so the first epistle is controversial and problematic.

Okay, this is probably TMI...

Edited August 3, 2012 by anatess