The deserted village poem. Top Irish Poem: The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith 2022-10-16

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The Deserted Village is a poem written by Oliver Goldsmith in 1770. It is a nostalgicically-toned work that reflects on the changes that have taken place in a once-thriving village that has become abandoned and desolate.

The poem begins with a description of the village's idyllic past, when it was a place of beauty and prosperity. The villagers were happy and content, living simple yet fulfilling lives. They were surrounded by verdant fields and meadows, and the air was filled with the sounds of birds singing and the gentle murmur of streams.

However, as the poem progresses, we see that the village has undergone a transformation. The fields are no longer as verdant, and the streams have become polluted. The villagers have left, driven away by the greed and avarice of the wealthy landowners who have seized their land and turned it into factories and mines.

The poem laments the loss of the village's former way of life, and the destruction of the natural beauty that once surrounded it. Goldsmith writes: "Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, / Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain, / Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid, / And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed."

The poem ends with a plea for the return of the old ways, and a call to preserve the beauty of the natural world. Goldsmith writes: "Let me all thy charms describe, / Then I will no more be mute, / And the world shall share my joy, / In this delightful solitude."

The Deserted Village is a poignant and evocative poem that reflects on the changing nature of society and the loss of traditional ways of life. It serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving the beauty and simplicity of the natural world, and the dangers of greed and avarice.

Oliver Goldsmith

the deserted village poem

The very spot Where many a time he triumphed is forgot. This was a subject that Goldsmith had addressed in his earlier poem There is no single place which has been identified as the village of the poem's title. Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, The village master taught his little school; A man severe he was, and stern to view; I knew him well, and every truant knew; Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee, At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper, circling round, Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned; Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault. Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high, Where once the signpost caught the passing eye, Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired, Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired, Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round. The swain mistrustless of his smutted face, While secret laughter tittered round the place; The bashful virgin's sidelong look of love, The matron's glance that would those looks reprove: These were thy charms, sweet village; sports like these, With sweet succession, taught even toil to please; These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed, These were thy charms—But all these charms are fled. He dedicated his life to easing others' pain, whether they were injured soldiers or ruined "spendthrifts. He imagines what it might have been like for the traveling villagers to look upon their homes for the final time.

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The Deserted Village poem

the deserted village poem

The rules are as follows: "1. When readers feel nostalgia, they also feel sorrow and indignation at the destruction Goldsmith describes. Alongside this problem came the new zest for luxuries and possessions. O blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Retreats from care, that never must be mine, How happy he who crowns in shades like these A youth of labour with an age of ease; Who quits a world where strong temptations try, And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly! Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart An hour's importance to the poor man's heart; Thither no more the peasant shall repair To sweet oblivion of his daily care; No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; The host himself no longer shall be found Careful to see the mantling bliss go round; Nor the coy maid, half willing to be pressed, Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. The speaker feels a sense of shame at the way the villagers have changed. The village all declared how much he knew; 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And even the story ran that he could gauge. He was afraid of the aristocratic interest — the great on one hand and the rabble or popular freedom on the other Lutz, 184.

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The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith

the deserted village poem

Lines 193—250 Near the church was a noisy school where a stern schoolmaster ruled strictly. If to the city sped—What waits him there? Contented toil, and hospitable care, And kind connubial tenderness, are there; And piety with wishes placed above, And steady loyalty, and faithful love. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintained its man; For him light labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more: His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, Amidst the swains to show my book-learned skill, Around my fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all I felt and all I saw; And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations passed, Here to return—and die at home at last. At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. E'en now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led, At proud men's doors they ask a little bread! At his control Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, And his last faltering accents whispered praise.

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The Deserted Village Plot Summary

the deserted village poem

What type of poem is the village schoolmaster praising? Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close, Up yonder hill the village murmur rose; There, as I past with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came soften'd from below; The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung, The sober herd that lowed to meet their young, The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school, The watch-dog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind, These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made. Thus fares the land, by luxury betrayed, In nature's simplest charms at first arrayed; But verging to decline, its splendours rise, Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise; While, scourged by famine, from the smiling land The mournful peasant leads his humble band; And while he sinks, without one arm to save, The country blooms—a garden, and a grave. At his control Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, And his last faltering accents whispered praise. While The Deserted Village is a commentary on the vile world created by socio-economic development, The Rising Village looks at this development with pleasure Hughes, 1. He cast about him in search of a profession.

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Poem: The Deserted Village, A Poem by Oliver Goldsmith

the deserted village poem

He uses the swain, for example, as a symbol of a healthy, hardworking youth. Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail lines 395—9 The poem ends with the hope that Poetry can help those who have been exiled: Still let thy voice, prevailing over time, Redress the rigours of the inclement clime; Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain, Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain; Teach him, that states of native strength possest, Tho' very poor, may still be very blest; That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away; While self-dependent power can time defy, As rocks resist the billows and the sky. Some people believed that suicide was a sin and that God would not allow it to be done as a form of punishment. What is the main purpose of the deserted village? In 1761 Goldsmith himself witnessed the displacement of villagers; he includes this experience in "The Deserted Village. Beside the bed where parting life was laid, And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismayed, The reverend champion stood.


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Top Irish Poem: The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith

the deserted village poem

First, the village is described as "some fair female, unadorned and plain. The man of wealth and pride Takes up a space that many poor supplied; Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds: The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth Has robbed the neighbouring fields of half their growth lines 275—300 The poem later condemns the luxury and corruption of the city, and describes the fate of a country girl who moved there: Where the poor houseless shivering female lies. Summary Lines 1—34 The speaker describes Lines 35—74 Between the cozy houses the speaker sees the effect of the "tyrant" and the "master" on the "smiling plain. Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild; There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose. As the speaker of the poem, he is rendered just as wretched by the destruction of old values and ways of life.


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The Deserted Village

the deserted village poem

Every description is harsh, from the glaring torches to clashing, rattling chariots and doorways filled with shivering, weeping peasants. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And e'en his failings leaned to Virtue's side; But in his duty prompt at every call, He watched and wept, he prayed and felt, for all. Later in the poem, Quintana argues, Goldsmith places nature and art, frugality and luxury, "national vigor and national corruption", and the country and the city, in opposition. . The village all declared how much he knew; 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, And even the story ran that he could gauge. Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain.

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What Is the Theme of the Poem "The Deserted Village"?

the deserted village poem

Do thine, sweet Auburn, thine, the loveliest train, Do thy fair tribes participate her pain? The paintings were copied by an engraver, and appeared in an edition of Goldsmith's poetry published in the same year by F. This line is an example of the speaker's rose-colored view of rural life. Even though farming and small-town life is not all innocence and prosperity, portraying it as such drives home the speaker's point. Make no long meals. He models Auburn in part after his own childhood village of Lissoy, although some critics thought he conflated Irish and English culture in his portrayal of the fictional town. The man of wealth and pride Takes up a space that many poor supplied; Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds; The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth Has robbed the neighbouring fields of half their growth; His seat, where solitary sports are seen, Indignant spurns the cottage from the green; Around the world each needful product flies, For all the luxuries the world supplies: While thus the land adorned for pleasure, all In barren splendour feebly waits the fall.

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