Chapter 1 Summary

The chapter opens with Orlando trying to slice the head of a Moor hanging from the rafters of his house. He states that the head is the prize of either his grandfather or father who fought in Africa. Orlando has ambitions to follow their footsteps, but at sixteen he is not old enough.

He describes his family as noble ever since they came into existence. His good family have handed him his good looks, which Woolf describes as rosy cheeked, big shouldered, and with shapely legs, among other perfections. His only problem is that he is slightly clumsy, and perhaps that is the reason his main hobby is writing poetry, particularly sonnets. During this chapter, he writes ten pages of poetry before going out into his garden to look for a solitary place to hide and think. In his hiding place he looks...