An English poet who lived from 1572-1631. Donne is noted for his sonnets and elegies, and according to the harsh critique of Nicolas Greene during the Elizabethan age, Donne is a “mountebank” who wraps up “his lack of meaning in hard words.” Woolf, too, appears to share this particular criticism, and she frequently pokes fun at Orlando’s own use of complicated language in poetry. As Orlando grows as a writer, she begins to dislike poets that don’t just say what they mean.
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John Donne Character Timeline in Orlando
The timeline below shows where the character John Donne appears in Orlando. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...this be? Their time is one of great writers—of “Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Browne, [and] Donne”—how can poetry be dead? These poets are Orlando’s heroes. Surely, Nick must be mistaken.
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...writing poetry and prose and people soon got tired of such conceits as that.” John Donne is “a mountebank” who wraps up “his lack of meaning in hard words.” Ben Jonson,...
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Chapter 6
...makes her way to the park. She reads an article by Sir Nicolas about John Donne, but the hustle and bustle of the park distracts her. “Life? Literature? One to be...
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...her discovery. She has learned that “it is not articles by Nick Greene on John Donne” that matter; it is “something useless, sudden, violent; something that costs a life; red, blue,...
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