John Donne and W; T Comparative Essay

Through the comparative study of Donne's poetry and Edson's play W;t each composer's distinctive context is accentuated. Donne represents his assurance of life after death in his Holy Sonnets and in doing so he reflects his Protestant Christian faith. Further to this in his earlier poetry, his valuing of deep relationship as critical to the human experience, reflects his renaissance ideology. Edson's distinctive post-modern context is apparent in the appropriation and reshaping of Donne's ideas to reflect her own context. Her use of character to construct explicitly connects to his poetry highlights that she does not hold the same certainty of a higher power as Donne, and that in her world of academia, relationships must compete with intellectual legacy. This is further emphasized in the choices made by each composer to represent their ideas in contrasting textual forms. Thus, a comparative study is effective in accentuating distinctive contexts, allowing the reader to examine their own religious understanding   through their   contextual lens.
Before Donne converted to his Protestant Christian faith he believed that the meaning of life was through love; a strong, deep relationship between a man and a women. Donne ignores the reality of love and instead writes about what is beyond reality, the metaphysical. In 1601 Donne secretly married a young seventeen-year-old girl by the name of Anne More. It is of the love he felt for his wife that is mentioned within many of Donne’s poetry. Donne wrote about how the love of his wife and himself would go beyond this life and travel with them into the afterlife. It was upon her death that Donne wrote “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” which describes his everlasting love for her. Donne positioned his audience to understand the significance of relationships, through the geometric conceits of "twin compasses"," thy soul, the fix'd foot", "making my circle perfect" The 17th century context is reflected in the symbolism of...