..."Lir" — that is, Shakespeare's King Lear. The line occurs in Act III, scene 4 of the tragedy: [LEAR] Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggedness,...

...help if they were sick or pregnant or addicted, he thought often of the lines in which King Lear says, "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, / That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, / How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, /Your loop'd and window'd raggedness,...

...cries out in the storm — once he is free of the Fool, who is the great enemy of the needy child: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness,...

...right now. When he was in power he never noticed, but now he stretches his vision to take them in: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window 'd raggedness...

...as Everyman is reminded, to share his superfluous wealth with the homeless, starving and unclothed: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your loop'd and window'd raggeaness,...

...the majority of human beings — letters came with the terrible self-reproach of Lear upon the heath: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are. That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides. Your loop'd and window'd raggedness,...

...Christian in its philosophy. Lear finally realizes that he was not a good king, or more simply, a good man: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness...

...down-and-outs staggered, a bundle of sodden rags, down the pavement into a derelict building for shelter. "Poor naked wretches wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm..." And the inspector wondered where the half-wit Woodley was. Probably cowering in...

...capable of voicing the immensely humane sympathy for the poor and dispossessed that we find in King Lear: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides Your looped and windowed raggedness,...

...social consciousness directs compassion specifically at homeless wretches: You houseless poverty — Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness,...