George Wither (11 June 1588 – 2 May 1667 / Bentworth, Hampshire)

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George Wither was an English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist. He was a prolific writer who adopted a deliberate plainness of style;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".

Context and poetic reputation

Wither has been classified as a Spenserian, with Michael Drayton, Giles Fletcher, Phineas Fletcher, and Henry More. 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 ... more »

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