ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to elaborate George Wither's own conception of the calling by linking it to his sense of authorial labor. Charles Lamb's remarks on "the power of poetry" show why Wither is frequently classed with John Milton as a self-proclaimed visionary poet of prophetic power. Wither himself liked to proclaim his own poverty, extending his personal misfortune toward the embrace of a "humble" writing style and choice of subject matter. All his life, Wither admired the ethical function of the poet. In the context of the radical Protestant Wither's career, the discourse of vocation is one way to enhance labor, making it moral and noble, rather than a means to achieve money. The pastoral poem The Shepheards Hunting, which he wrote while in Marshalsea prison, proclaims his honesty and states that all of his pains are "to avoid idlenesse" rather than to go for praise.
