Wit Page #2

is sacrificed to hysterical punctuation.

''And Death'' capital D...

''shall be no more;'' semi-colon.

''Death,'' capital D, comma...

''thou shalt die! '', exclamation mark.

lf you go in for this sort of thing

l suggest you take up Shakespeare.

Gardner's edition of the Holy Sonnets...

returns to the Westmoreland

manuscript source of 1610.

Not for sentimental reasons,

l assure you...

but because Helen Gardner is a scholar.

lt reads:

''And death shall be no more,'' comma...

''Death thou shalt die.''

Nothing but a breath, a comma...

separates life from life everlasting.

Very simple, really.

With the original punctuation restored,

death is no longer something...

to act out on a stage

with exclamation marks.

lt is a comma. A pause.

ln this way, the uncompromising way...

one learns something

from the poem, wouldn't you say?

Life, death, soul, God...

past, present.

Not insuperable barriers.

Not semicolons.

Just a comma.

Life, death, l see.

lt's a metaphysical conceit, it's wit.

-l'll go back to the library--

-lt is not wit, Miss Bearing, it is truth.

The paper's not the point.

lsn't it?

Vivian, you're a bright young woman.

Use your intelligence.

Don't go back to the library, go out.

Enjoy yourself with friends.

l went outside.

lt was a warm day.

There were students on the lawn

talking about nothing, laughing.

There were students on the lawn

talking about nothing, laughing.

Simple human truth.

Uncompromising scholarly standards.

They're connected.

l just couldn't....

l went back to the library.

Anyway....

All right.

''Significant contribution to knowledge.''

''Eight cycles of chemotherapy.''

Give me the full dose.

The full dose every time.

The attention was flattering...

for the first five minutes.

-Name?

-My name?

Vivian Bearing.

Bearing. B-E-A-R-l-N-G.

Vivian. V-l-V-l-A-N.

-Doctor?

-Yes, l have a Ph.D.

Your doctor?

Dr. Harvey Kelekian.

l am a doctor of philosophy.

Take a deep breath and hold it.

Okay.

A scholar of 17th century poetry.

Arms above your head, and hold it.

Okay.

l have made an immeasurable contribution

to the discipline of English literature.

l am, in short, a force.

Okay, that's it.

Name?

Lucy, Countess of Bedford.

-l don't see it here.

-My name is Vivian Bearing.

B-E-A-R-l-N-G. Dr. Kelekian is my doctor.

Okay, lie down.

After an astounding

undergraduate career...

l studied for three years

with Prof. E.M. Ashford...

during which l learned

by instruction and example...

what it means to be

a scholar of distinction.

As a research Fellow, my principal task...

was the alphabetizing of index cards

for Ashford's monumental critical edition...

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