John Donne (1572-1631) [HISTORICAL, Chapter 2, page 88 and chapter 6, pg. 285] was the leading English poet of the metaphysical school and is often considered the greatest love poet in the English language. He was born to Roman Catholic parents and was four when his father died. He studied for three years at the University of Oxford and then at the University of Cambridge. He then secretly married Anne More in December of 1601. Because of this secret marriage, he lost all hope of a career in public service and found himself unemployed at the age of 30, living in poverty. John studied and wrote frequently during this time, developing works on theology, religious poetry and love lyrics. He was ordained as a deacon and priest in 1615 and shortly after, his wife died leaving him to raise the children. He dove fully into his vocation as a priest and his sermons were loved by King James I and Charles I (Garland Pinka).  He died from stomach cancer in 1631. 

Donne’s poetry is known for avoiding the conventions of 16th century English verse. He drew from a wide range of other genres such as medicine, astronomy, politics and philosophy and his sermons highlight a strong mastery of prose. His style has a dramatic realism and passion. Some of his more popular works are “The Flea,” “The Canonization,” “The Sun Rising” and “The Good-Morrow.” 

When Donne’s name is first mentioned in Orlando in Chapter 2, Greene criticized Donne as being “a mountebank who had wrapped up his lack of meaning in hard words” (88). Greene essentially claimed he deceived readers through his eloquence of words. He also claimed that all authors in that era were bad. In chapter 6, Orlando reads “an article by Sir Nicholas on the collected works of a man she had once known— John Donne” (284-85). This is after Greene says he likes her work. 

Garland Pinka, Patricia. “Prose of John Donne.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Donne/Prose. 

Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. Mariner Books, 1956.