W;_T_and_Donne

Explore three connections between W;t and Donne’s poetry and how they shape the meaning of both texts. “The efforts must be total for the results to be meaningful”. It is only through the total consideration of W;t and Donne’s poetry that complete meaning can be shaped. Despite their contrasting contexts, a multitude of connections bind Edson’s 20thC play W;t to John Donne’s 17thC metaphysical poetry, to mould new meaning and highlight universal qualities. As Edson brings to life Donne’s intellectual conceits, Donne’s poetry shapes complexity in Edson’s representations. This bond enriches meaning, allowing us to see the texts beyond their context. By considering their connections, meaning is continually shaped and reshaped, enhancing my understanding of the representations within the texts. As Edson and Donne delve into the concept of death, they present similar surrounding attitudes. A product of a secular world, W;t presents an irreligious protagonist who struggles to find an acceptance of death. The accumulation of obdurate images, “demanding professor, Uncompromising, Never one to turn from a challenge”, and the repetition of “tough”, portray Vivian to be confident and self-assured. Edson’s frequent reference to Donne’s dramatic monologue “Death Be Not Proud” shapes meaning as we draw parallels between the protagonists. Similar to Edson, Donne crafts a confident tone through apostrophe, personifying death as he denounces its “might” and “dread”. Monosyllabic words, “thou art not soe”, in conjunction with caesura, emphasise meaning as death is disempowered. Both protagonists are portrayed to believe that “being extremely smart would take care of it”, eminent through their use of wit. Vivian’s “verbal swordplay”, like Donne’s syllogistic argument, seeks to “overthrow” death. While both texts depict vivid representations, they rely on one another to form complex meaning and reshape interpretation. Despite sharing similar attitudes toward death, Edson and Donne present diverse and individual experiences as the protagonist overcomes “the seemingly insuperable barriers separating life, death and eternal life”. Edson explores the notion of suffering as Vivian grapples with the fear of death. Shaped around her personal experience in hospitals, she draws from our preconceptions of hospitals and their link to suffering. She juxtaposes Vivian’s confidence with vivid imagery “very thin, barefoot and completely bald” to highlight her vulnerability and depersonalisation. Edson foregrounds Vivian’s struggle through adynaton, “I want to tell you how it feels. I want to explain it”, accentuated through emotive abstraction and short syntax “I’m scared”, bringing to life the difficulties confronting Vivian. Emotive language “pathetic state as a simpering victim,” and repetition, “very sick. Very, very sick. Ultimately sick,” encapsulate Vivian’s suffering, evoking a personal response. This response is enhanced through Edson’s structure of the play, with “no intermission”, allowing the audience to vicariously experience the remorseless nature of Vivian’s “stage four, metastatic ovarian cancer”. In contrast, Donne paradoxically presents death as comforting, highlighted in “Hymne to God My God, in My Sicknesse”. Unlike Vivian, Donne’s persona appears untroubled by the notion of death, manifested through the use of rhyme and iambic pentameter that establish a rhythm which mirrors the ease with which death is encountered. The persona’s acceptance of death is highlighted through metaphor, “I tune the Instrument”, symbolic of their spiritual preparation for death. Despite suffering illness, similar to Vivian, Donne employs euphemism, “coming to that Holy roome”, to represent death as serene. This is reinforced through extended metaphor and melodious imagery, “with the Quire of Saints... I shall be made thy Musique”, to convey a sense of pleasure and peace. Yet Edson’s painfully vivid representation causes us to question the ease of such an experience, bringing to life the persona’s underlying suffering as death “throws [them] down”, reshaping meaning. Despite this, Donne’s representation ultimately portrays a sense of peace in death, bringing hope to Vivian and crafting new meaning in W;t. Such connections bring complexity to both texts, allowing continual interpretation as meaning is shaped and reshaped. Although both texts were produced in an age of significant scientific advancement, Edson and Donne present traditional views of salvation. Edson depicts Vivian’s redemption by juxtaposing her pride, once believing “no one is quite as good as I”, with “doubt” as she becomes “not sure of herself”. No longer able to “hide behind wit”, the progression from formal diction to colloquial language is symbolic of enlightenment “that now is the time for simplicity... kindness”. Such realisation allows Vivian to find solace in the antidote presented by the picture book, “a little allegory of the soul. No matter where it hides, God will find it,” in which the “bunnies”, eminent in Vivian’s childhood and in her final hours, form a motif symbolic of rebirth. Edson’s underlying Christian values permeate the denouement as Vivian achieves ultimate enlightenment embodied when Vivian “walks... toward a little light... attentive and eager,” indicative of her salvation. Edson’s representation brings alive Donne’s ardent views of salvation, reflective of the religious society in which he lived. Within “Death Be Not Proud” Donne highlights his beliefs through the use of pun, “soules deliverie”, creating double entendre alluding to both emancipation and rebirth in afterlife. Donne’s central conceit metaphorically compares death to “rest and sleepe”, with alliteration “one short sleepe” creating euphony that mirrors the peace in death, allowing us to “wake eternally” with a sense of refreshment and “pleasure”. Donne’s final assertion, “death, thou shalt die”, employs paradox and caesura to enhance impact and shape dramatic quality, as death is ultimately “overthrown” and the persona achieves eternal life. Similarly, in “Hymne to God” Donne uses the central conceit of a “mapp” as the persona “sees [their] West”, symbolic of death thus achieving salvation, “as West and East are one in all flat Maps...death doth touch the Resurrection”. Powerfully linked through the notion of salvation, Edson enriches Donne’s complex conceits with sentiment, while such abstract qualities create depth in Edson’s representation. Such union allows their representations to transcend contexts, continually providing new interpretations. Just as Donne’s abstract conceits bring strength and intricacy to Edson’s representations, W;t transforms Donne’s metaphysical concepts into something tangible for contemporary audiences. When paired as one, these texts achieve a harmony that sings through contexts to continually appeal to responders. Through exploring their connections, both implicit and explicit, meaning is repeatedly moulded, enhancing my understanding of the concepts presented in ea