W;t and John Donne

Recently, I read W;t by Margaret Edson. W;t is a play about a professor of John Donne's poetry who learns she has terminal ovarian cancer. In the play, the professor (named Vivian) is forced to confront her humanity and evaluate the value of intellectual pursuits. I loved it. It was absolutely beautiful and is now my favorite play. I absolutely recommend reading it, but only after you've read at least a few poems by John Donne. Donne was a metaphysical poet who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s. He had two main stages of poetry writing. The first was very sexual in nature, while the second was about his struggles with death, salvation, and humanity. Usually the poems in the first category are referred to as being written by "Jack" Donne, while the others are by "Dr. John" Donne. Some of my favorite poems of his are "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," the "Holy Sonnets," "The Sun Rising," and "Go And Catch a Falling Star." The most important ones for you to read before tackling W;t are the "Holy Sonnets."