|
George Wither (11 June 1588 O.S. (21 June 1588 NS) – 2 May 1667 O.S. (12 May 1667 NS)) was an English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist.〔Hyamson, Albert M., A Dictionary of Universal Biography: Of All Ages and of All Peoples, page 725〕 He was a prolific writer who adopted a deliberate plainness of style;〔Grundy, pages 176 – 177〕 he was several times imprisoned. C. V. Wedgwood wrote "every so often in the barren acres of his verse is a stretch enlivened by real wit and observation, or fired with a sudden intensity of feeling".〔C. V. Wedgwood, ''Poetry and Politics under the Stuarts'' (1960), p. 90.〕 ==Context and poetic reputation== Wither has been classified as a Spenserian, with Michael Drayton, Giles Fletcher, Phineas Fletcher, and Henry More.〔William Bridges Hunter, ''The English Spenserians: the poetry of Giles Fletcher, George Wither, Michael Drayton, Phineas Fletcher, and Henry More'' (1977).〕 The early Jacobean Spenserians were generally republican rather than imperial (at least in terms of ancient Rome), of the "country party" rather than the "court party", nostalgic for Elizabeth I, and in favour of the older ornateness rather than the plain style of James I.〔David Loewenstein, Janel M. Mueller (editors), ''The Cambridge History of Early Modern English Literature'' (2002), p. 501.〕 According to Christopher Hill: :"... we can trace a line from Spenser ... through a group of poets ... ranging from Shakespeare, Drayton, the two Fletchers, William Browne and Samuel Daniel to George Wither".〔Christopher Hill, ''Milton and the English Revolution'' (1977), p. 19.〕 Or again: :"A line of poets could be traced from Sidney and Spenser through Sylvester and Browne to Wither— not, admittedly, of a rising quality, but of a consistent political attitude."〔Christopher Hill, ''Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution'' (1965), p. 138.〕 Where Hill identifies connections via the aristocratic patrons and politics, Alastair Fowler takes Drayton to be the poetic centre of a group,〔Joan Grundy attributes the observation that "Drayton was ... Spenser's chief heir" to Professor Douglas Bush; see Grundy page 107〕 which besides Wither comprised Browne, John Davies of Hereford, William Drummond of Hawthornden, George Sandys and Joshua Sylvester.〔Alastair Fowler, ''The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse'' (1991), p. xxxviii.〕 From c.1640 onwards, Wither assumed an overtly prophetic voice.〔James Doelman, ''King James I and the Religious Culture of England'' (2000), p. 50.〕 His wide range of publication, in prose as well as various poetic genres over nearly half a century, has left a very uneven impression of his interests and affected his poetic reputation. George Gilfillan wrote that "Wither was a man of real genius, but seems to have been partially insane".〔(''Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Volume 2'' )〕 Herbert Grierson found something to praise in early love poems, but spoke of "endless diffuse didactic and pious poems, if they can be called poems".〔Herbert Grierson, ''Cross-currents in 17th Century English Literature'' (1958 edition), p. 148.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「George Wither」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|