Convent threshold

As a poem this is slightly confusing to say the least.


From what I understand there is a couple (thought to be Abelard and Heloise) who seem to be having a 'heated' disscusion about their choices and sins commited. One of them is insisting that they both must join a convent in order to seek forgivness from god for their sins (which in this case is having a relationship that was possibly sexual, before marriage). The other insists that actually earth is quite alright and they could just carry on as normal. The person who wants them both to join a convent has very clear views that if they both join convents and take part in no more sinful activities, they will be able to go to heaven and be together being as sinful as they like. This is very contradictive in my opinion.


In this poem nearlly all of the things which take place are NOT literal but symbolic, the only thing in the poem which is literal is the title because that is what they are actually talking about, to go into a convent or not.


The poem is nearlly all symbolic, especially the part where we are told that one person is on a set of stairs looking down on the other person, on earth. This is a very clever way of giving the reader symbolic messages, to do with religion and status. One person is not litterally standing on some stairs looking down on the other, the symbolism represents the higher status and importace of heaven, that this is much more important than enjoying time on earth. It seems the person on the stairs is in simple terms saying 'Right if you stay down on earth then we can't be together, because if we keep sinning then we can't go to heaven and so won't have an afterlife. If I have to go on my own that will be miserabe, so you need to stop sinning and go into a convent separate from me, then we can go to heaven and be together and do all the sinning we like'.