MODULE A FINAL NOTES
Introduction
Despite markedly differing contexts of composers and contrasting forms, texts may find similitude by their
interrelation with evocative and timeless fundamental concepts. Although separated by four centuries and
composed in contrasting socio-historical times, the 17th century metaphysical poetry of John Donne and
Margaret Edson’s 20th century postmodern play W;t remain inextricably linked as Edson recomposes the 20th
Century concepts of … explored in Donne’s poetry for a modern audience. These concepts manifest
themselves reflective of the composer’s context and explore the paradoxical nature of human existence
where it is consistent and universal but dynamic as affected by context and values. The fusion of studying
both texts together allows the responder to sufficiently analyse this paradox and enhances the responder’s
appreciation of contextual values from a Renaissance society and a modern society.
Conclusion
John Donne’s metaphysical poetry and Margaret Edson’s play W;t display inarguable links in the notions
pertaining to … As these ideas are paralleled and discussed in both texts, it enriches the responder’s
appreciation of each text in its own way and combined through their skillful exploration of the human
condition.
INTELLECTUALISATION OF DEATH TO OVERCOME ANXIETY
Imminent mortality catalyses the shift from scholarly assertion and intellectualisation to the recognition for
spiritual resolution allowing existential relief. The Renaissance saw a period of intellectual pursuit evident in
John Donne’s metaphysical poetry where he utilises intellectualisation to overcome anxiety in the face of
death. Acuity is employed in the Petrarchan sonnet “Death be not proud” to mask Donne’s insecurities about
death. This apostrophe and arrogant tone allows Donne to personify death and reduce its power. The shift in
tone after the volta, subverts death’s power through imagery “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and
desperate men” suggesting that death has no control over such things but is rather dictated by events, thus
diminishing death’s perceived power over humanity. This argument culminates in the paradoxical conceit
“Death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die” where Donne finds alleviation that that death’s power does
not extend beyond life. This epitomises his Christian belief in the resurrection and afterlife, rejecting the
medieval perception of death being fearful and presenting the optimism of Protestant Christian ideals of
afterlife through scholarly rationality. The comma effectively disempowers death through intellectual
argument by suggesting it is merely a microscopic pause and transition between the living life and eternal
rest. Moreover, through “Hymn to God, my God in my Sickness”, Donne utilises conceit in “Whilst my
physicians… and I their map, who lie flat on this bed” where allusions to cosmography links to the
geographical discoveries or the Renaissance period highlighting the intellectualisation of Donne’s condition.
Hence, the responder observes a paradigmatic shift from rationality to religion to relinquish anxiety
pertaining to death due to faith in the Christian doctrine. Donne’s religious values are able to relinquish his
anxiety, which is what Edson reshapes in a contemporary society, bringing forward the intellectualisation of
death in a new way.
Edson’s play W;t personifies Donne’s dramatic voice as Vivian Bearing, a cancer patient who develops
Donne’s passion for the mind and similarly takes an arrogant and conceited approach to her impending
death. Employing irony, Edson reveals Vivian’s response to her diagnosis, “I know all about life and death, I
am after all a scholar of Donne’s holy sonnets” where Vivian’s only experiences of life and death have been
found between the pages of poetry. Additionally, Edson’s secular views prohibit her from experiencing the
full enlightenment in Donne’s poetry where Donne finds solace in religion; Vivian and modern responders
find value in science and intellect over faith. Moreover, Vivian’s ability to accept mortality stems from her
interpretation of Donne’s poetry throughout her career where her intellectualisation of literature allows her to
simplify death to “Nothing but a breath- a comma- that separates life from life everlasting”, referencing
Donne’s poem “Death thou Shalt Die”. Through this metatheatrical statement and meticulous academic
study of Donne’s work, Vivian is able to relegate death to a comma and thus, accept her own morality. This
is reinforced where “Vivian moves in front of the screen, and the projection of the poem is cast directly upon
her”. This stage direction where Donne’s poem “If Poysonous Minerals” is superimposed upon her
reinforces the intertextuality between the texts where Edson translates Donne’s intellectualisation of death
into a modern context. Finally, Vivian’s position as both director and protagonist exemplifies her control of
her life where Vivian reduces the power of cancer in her stream of consciousness “insidious, Hmm. Curious
word choice. Cancer, cancer”. This analytical method presented in concurrent dialogue exposes how
humanity applies intellectualisation to reduce their anxiety in the face of death.
SALVATION AND REDEMPTION
Poetically and dramatically, an introspective search for validation at the proximity of death invariably
precipitates a sense of humility, facilitating the acquisition of redemption and salvation sought by those
confronted with death in both secular and religious contexts.
Donne’s metaphysical poetry explores salvation from the perspective of his 17th Century Christian, historical
context whereby his poetry asserts his religious connections and beliefs regarding salvation and redemption.
Throughout “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness”, the acceptance of Donne’s imminent death is
presented. The repetition of personal pronouns in “Be this my text, my Sermon to mine owne” displays his
internal reflection and thus his plea for salvation where the poem serves as his personal sermon. Donne
further voices his fear towards death through the rhetorical question “What shall my West hurt me?” ‘West’
symbolises death and thus, Donne admits to his weakness and seeks redemption in the repetition of “As the
first Adam’s sweat surrounds my face, may the last Adam’s blood, my soule embrace”. The biblical
reference to “Adam” suggests that Donne, like Adam, must suffer in order to be atoned of his sins where
allusions to Christ signifies his desire for redemption and salvation from a Protestant Christian perspective
and demonstrates his ritualistic focus on religion where repentance is required to prove worthiness. Finally,
throughout “This is my Playes Last Scene”, Donne’s desire for salvation is evident in “So, fall my sinnes”.
The imperative “fall” combined with the defiant tone proves that Donne has embraced death and reached
salvation where he understands that his sins are forgiven. Furthermore, the use of “fall” suggests that after
death, the sins are part; of the physical body and will fall and perish as the soul ascends to heaven. This
notion of contrition and desire for salvation is reshaped throughout W;t.
By contrast, Edson explores salvation from a humanist framework and secular paradigm due to the decline in
religious prominence throughout the 20th century, where Vivian’s inevitable death serves as a catalyst for
salvation. The ability for intellectual argument to provide existential relief is challenged revealing the
acceptance of mortality as a spiritual journey. Vivian’s ironic moan “Oh, God oh” references Donne’s poem
“If Poysonous Minerals” illustrating her internal spiritual journey and desire for redemption, a concept
presented in Donne’s poetry. Furthermore, where God is a figure for salvation in the Renaissance context of
Donne’s poetry, Susie becomes a figure of salvation in a modern secular context by making Vivian consider
“What you want them to do if your heart stops”. By giving Vivian the ability to determine her fate, Susie acts
as a catalyst for her salvation and allows her to transition towards death the way she desires. This presents a
direct and stark contrast to the religious context of Donne’s poetry where Edson’s secular context dictates
how Vivian comes to accept her own mortality, through her discovery of humanist values of connection and
kindness. Vivian’s salvation is presented through the final stage directions “She is naked”, where the
removal of her clothing symbolises the elimination and disconnect from the medical world as she reclaims
herself and embraces her transition towards death. This is further explored when “She walks toward a little
light. She is now attentive and eager, moving slowly toward the light” where the repetition of the light is
symbolic of her final transition towards death suggesting a spiritual resolution, rather than explicitly
religious awakening, implying that salvation is not found in the “complexities of metaphysical poetry”.
HUMAN CONNECTION
The awakening of existential quandaries in the face of death instigates a process of self-effacement in the
search for personal validation and human connection, where both texts recognise that human connection
transcends the search for knowledge. The significance of human connection is explored in a perspicuous way
throughout Donne’s poetry, regarding its necessity to transcend the scientific progression of the 17th century
in order to…The utilisation of the metaphorical conceit“Grown cosmographers, and I their map, who lie flat
on this bed”throughout “Hymn to God, My God, in My Sickness”portrays the dehumanising implications of
scientific progression that possesses the ability to marginalise human sensitivity. The conceit of
cosmography is significant due to its prevalence in the Renaissance period highlighting the intellectual
manner in which Donne is analysed physically with an absence of emotion. This is contrasted in “The Sunne
Rising” where the cumulative dismissal of temporal elements“Love all alike, no season knows, nor time, nor
hours, days, months” emphasises the extremity of love’s power and its ability to preside over the scientific
paradigm therefore displaying the value and power of human connection.The poem opens with cumulative
metaphors combined with a chiasmus where the syntactical reversal throughout “She’s all states, and all
princes I” equates her to countries suggesting she is his world. In the final line of this poem, “This bed thy
centre, these walls, thy sphere”, Donne employs the cosmological underpinnings of the geocentric model
prevalent in his context and collapses the entire Great Chain of Being by establishing a metaphor and
utilising a zeugma to suggest that his lover is his entire universe thus presenting the importance of human
connection. Finally, Donne explicitly explores human connection through the emotion of love, displayed
through “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”. This dramatic monologue proves the constancy of love and
the strong spiritual and physical bond between two lovers. The metaphysical conceit “As stiffe twin
compasses are two, thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show to move” compares the female to a fixed point
within the compass claiming that the two lovers are in constant harmony, proving the interconnectedness of
their souls and the power of their love, regardless of the distance between them. The notion and importance
of human connection is recreated and emphasised by Edson throughout W;t.
Edson similarly postulates to the audience the conception that science is a detrimental facet to humanity,
where the dehumanisation of Vivian in the face of science is presented and hence, further suggests the innate
desire and necessity for human connection. At the time of Vivian’s death, the juxtaposition between the
protective exclamation from Susie “She’s DNR!”and Jason’s contrasting response “She’s research!”
exemplifies the power of scientific progression and serves as a scathing critique of the medical progression
throughout the postmodern era and portrays the dehumanising ramifications of the pursuit of knowledge.
This action of indignity is a testament to the focus on the scientific paradigm in a secular society.
Furthermore, the use of stichomythia in the medical chorus “how are you feeling today” presents the
demeaning and repetitive nature of scientific progression where Jason becomes a “physician” that
“anatomises” her displaying no empathy, engendering Vivian to realise that now is the time “for kindness”,
catalysing her desire for human connection. The development of Vivian’s connection with Susie is evident in
the stage direction “Vivian unwraps it [popsicle] and breaks it in half”. Throughout the play, the Popsicle is
a modern metaphorical conceit where the symbolism of breaking it in half displays the elimination of
Vivian’s formal structure and way of living, and displays a more open, friendly side of Vivian where she
values human connections and relationships. Hence, the Popsicle represents Vivian’s transformation from
the arrant and detached academic to a an adult with human connections which poignantly epitomises for the
audience the value of human connection in the face of an existential crisis. Following this stage direction,
Vivian claims, “It sounds nice”, as a response to… where this monosyllabic sentence displays Vivian leaving
behind her academic discourse and her transition into a more personable and emotional individual as a
response to her realisation of the power of human connection. Hence, her passion from academic elitism is
transformed into humility and a desire for human connection. Thus in the play W;t as in Donne’s poetry, the
innate need for simple human connection is portrayed despite the potential for scientific progression to
diminish the requirement for connections.
TIME
Throughout Donne’s metaphysical poetry, he explores time and its consequences on the human experience
through a religious context. Through utilising the motif of time, Donne is able to comment on different
aspects of humanity and life. Donne’s poem The Sunne Rising explores the motif of time where he writes
“Love, all like, no season knows, nor clyme, nor houres, dayes, months, which are the rags of time”. The
cumulative dismissal of temporal elements emphasises the extremity of love’s power to prove that time is
meaningless in the face of love thus proving how love has the ability to transcend time and is not constrained
by the passing of time. The motif of time is further explored through Donne’s poem, This is my Playes Last
Scene where time is used to reinforce the sense of finality and the impending nature of Donne’s death
through the cumulative repetition of ‘last’ in “last mile… last pace… last point”. Finally, Donne utilises the
motif of time to present the eternal nature of the soul according to his Christian ideology. This belief in the
afterlife is presented through his poem Death Be Not Proud where Donne creates religious allusions through
“Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie” proving that after death, the soul is delivered to God and eternal
life and thus, death is a pathway to eternity. This is furthered through a statement of religious faith and
theological belief where Donne writes, “wee wake eternally” where the alliteration of ‘w’ creates an
elongated sound suggesting that life is elongated after death through the transition into eternal afterlife.
Similarly, Edson utilises the motif of time to explore the experiences of humanity however, through a secular
and humanist context. This motif is utilised through the play to document the inevitable death of Vivian
Bearing and is initially established through the opening of the play where Vivian understands “They’ve given
me less than two hours” where through the postmodern convention of meta-theatre, Vivian is able to
announce to the audience, her understanding of her impending death and her awareness that time is running
out. This is reinforced through Vivian explicitly exclaiming, “I’m running out of time”. This blunt statement
addressing Vivian’s inevitable death presents to the audience the harsh nature of time on humanity where the
motif of time is used to quantify and measure one’s life. Furthermore, the structured nature of time is
presented where Edson writes “the first week… the cycle will repeat eight times” whereby the quantified
nature of this statement through ‘first’ and ‘eight’ presents the human need to control time and how although
humanity may attempt to overthrow time, time will conquer humanity instead. Following this, the pinnacle
of Edson’s discussion of time is presented through the paradox “it goes so slowly and yet it is so scarce”
whereby Edson comments on the precious nature of time to humanity through ‘scarce’ and thus humanity’s
need to control and observe the passing of time. However, this quotation is ironic as it displays a contrasting
perspective that time is passing ‘slowly’ where the remainder of the play is fast paced through the lack of
‘Acts’ and ‘Scenes’ and juxtaposes the continuous statements of Vivian that time is passing quickly.