Значение слова WITHER в Литературной энциклопедии

WITHER

GEORGE (1588-1667).-Poet, _b._ near Alton, Hampshire, was at Oxf. for a short time, and then studied law at Lincoln's Inn. In 1613 he _pub._ a bold and pungent satire, _Abuses Stript and Whipt_, with the result that he was imprisoned for some months in the Marshalsea. While there he wrote _The Shepheard's Hunting_, a pastoral. _Wither's Motto_, _Nec Habeo, nec Careo, nec Curo_ (I have not, want not, care not) was written in 1618, and in 1622 he _coll._ his poems as _Juvenilia_. The same year he _pub._ a long poem, _Faire Virtue, the Mistress of Philarete_, in which appears the famous lyric, "Shall I wasting in despair." Though generally acting with the Puritans he took arms with Charles I. against the Scotch in 1639; but on the outbreak of the Civil War he was on the popular side, and raised a troop of horse. He was taken prisoner by the Royalists, and is said to have owed his life to the intercession of a fellow-poet, Sir John Denham. After the establishment of the Commonwealth he was considerably enriched out of sequestrated estates and other spoils of the defeated party; but on the Restoration was obliged to surrender his gains, was impeached, and committed to the Tower. In his later years he wrote many religious poems and hymns, _coll._ as _Hallelujah_. Before his death his poems were already forgotten, and he was referred to by Pope in _The Dunciad_ as "the wretched Withers". He was, however, disinterred by Southey, Lamb, and others, who drew attention to his poetical merits, and he has now an established place among English poets, to which his freshness, fancy, and delicacy of taste well entitle him.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012