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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:gunther:208e4a6decf2",
    "title": "GUNTHER",
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    "verified_text": "gunther, johann christian (1695-1723), german poet, was born at striegau in lower silesia on the 8th of april 1695. after attending the gymnasium at schweidnitz, he was sent in 1715 by his father, a country doctor, to study medicine at wittenberg; but he was idle and dissipated, had no taste for the profession chosen for him, and came to a complete rupture with his family. in 1717 he went to leipzig, where he was befriended by j. b. mencke (1674-1732), who recognized his genius; and there he published a poem on the peace of passarowitz (concluded between the german emperor and the porte in 1718) which acquired him reputation. a recommendation from mencke to frederick augustus ii. of saxony, king of poland, proved worse than useless, as gunther appeared at the audience drunk. from that time he led an unsettled and dissipated life, sinking ever deeper into the slough of misery, until he died at jena on the 15th of march 1723, when only in his 28th year. goethe pronounces gunther to have been a poet in the fullest sense of the term. his lyric poems as a whole give evidence of deep and lively sensibility, fine imagination, clever wit, and a true ear for melody and rhythm; but an air of cynicism is more or less present in most of them, and dull or vulgar witticisms are not infrequently found side by side with the purest inspirations of his genius. gunther's collected poems were published in four volumes (breslau, 1723-1735). they are also included in vol. vi. of tittmann's _deutsche dichter des 17ten jahrh._ (leipzig, 1874), and vol. xxxviii. of kurschner's _deutsche nationalliteratur_ (1883). a pretended autobiography of gunther appeared at schweidnitz in 1732, and a life of him by siebrand at leipzig in 1738. see hoffmann von fallersleben, _j. ch. gunther_ (breslau, 1833); o. roquette, _leben und dichten j. ch. gunthers_ (stuttgart, 1860); m. kalbeck, _neue beitrage zur biographie des dichters c. gunther_ (breslau, 1879). gunther of schwarzburg (1304-1349), german king, was a descendant of the counts of schwarzburg and the younger son of henry vii., count of blankenburg. he distinguished himself as a soldier, and rendered good service to the emperor louis iv., on whose death in 1347 he was offered the german throne, after it had been refused by edward iii., king of england. he was elected german king at frankfort on the 30th of january 1349 by four of the electors, who were partisans of the house of wittelsbach and opponents of charles of luxemburg, afterwards the emperor charles iv. charles, however, won over many of gunther's adherents, defeated him at eltville, and gunther, who was now seriously ill, renounced his claims for the sum of 20,000 marks of silver. he died three weeks afterwards at frankfort, and was buried in the cathedral of that city, where a statue was erected to his memory in 1352. see graf l. utterodt zu scharffenberg, _gunther, graf von schwarzburg, erwahlter deutscher konig_ (leipzig, 1862); and k. janson, _das konigtum gunthers von schwarzburg_ (leipzig, 1880).",
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