Wit

John Donne (1572-1631) is an English metaphysical poet best known for his use of language and wit. His poetry often wrestles with philosophical, metaphysical, and religious questions that have no real answers; rather, Donne wants his readers to reconsider these questions with logic and intellect. Donne is best known for using paradoxes and conceits to make his point.

Donne’s poetry pops up throughout Edson’s play, making it one of the work’s central motifs. Edson sprinkles Donne’s poems throughout Wit for two reasons. First, it helps audiences better understand Vivian’s character. Vivian is not just a fan of Donne—Donne is her life’s work. Her job as a professor of seventeenth-century poetry is not just her vocation; it is the core of her identity. Donne is an essential piece of who Vivian is, and she chooses to study him to prove her intellectual prowess. But the skills she learns from studying Donne become an essential tool for understanding her cancer, too. The doctors “anatomize” her through medical terminology she does not immediately understand, and she tells the audience that her only defense is “the acquisition of vocabulary” (43-44). Vivian has developed her own wit, and like Donne, she relies on it to make sense of an often-chaotic world.