With a bit more time, I really want to flesh out the ideas of this essay because they've got quite a bit of support that I could work in. However, the time constraints have let me off the hook for now:)
Here's what we've got:
One of the most effective ways to learn is to take a concept
about which you know nothing and compare it to something you understand
well. In Margaret Edson’s play, W;t, the protagonist, Dr. Vivian
Bearing, is a hardened scholar who has devoted her life to studying the poetry
of John Donne. Her world is upended after learning that she has cancer, and
Vivian agrees to be studied and scrutinized in order to better understand the
disease—just as she once picked apart Donne’s Holy Sonnets. Throughout the story, Vivian recites lines
from one poem in particular: Holy Sonnet X.
Edson ingeniously portrays Vivian herself as a form of metaphysical
conceit—a physical representation for the meaning of the poem.
