Literature and the Contemporary: Open Thread for 1st Reading (Wit & Donne)

Literature and the Contemporary: Open Thread for 1st Reading (Wit & Donne): "You can check the syllabus if you want for instructions, but what you need to do is very simple: just write a coherent paragraph (even..."

Wit and Donne Poems

After reading and re-reading Wit and selected Donne poems, many questions remained

burning in my mind. I tried making connections between the thoughts of Vivian in Wit, and the

complex words in Donne’s Holy Sonnets. In Wit, Vivian says to one of her doctors, “Are you

going to be sorry when I--- Do you ever miss people? (57). Vivian was fully aware that she

would die in the near future. At one point she also states “My cancer is not being cured, is it (66).

This time Vivian addresses this as a statement, not even a question. She was prepared for the

truth, that cancer would soon take her life. These words relate to a passage from Donne’s Holy

Sonnet X. “Much pleasure, the from thee, much more must flow, and soonest our best men with

thee do go” (63). Here, Donne is basically stating that everyone dies sooner or later. These

passages are related in terms of facing reality: that every living thing must come to an end.