John Donne (1572-1631) as a melancholy lover, from the painting (ca.1595) at Newbattle Abbey

In his early twenties Donne was noted for his amorous affairs and fascination with the theatre. Richard Baker, wrote of him at this time as “not dissolute, but very neat; a great visitor of Ladies, a great frequenter of Plays, a great writer of conceited Verses.” Shakespeare was writing his early plays at this time, and thereby provided Donne with inspiration for many poems. See: Richmond, Hugh M., "Donne's Master: the Young Shakespeare," Criticism XV.2 (Spring,1973), 126-44. Courtesy of the Yorck Project, under GNU Free Document License.