The Deserted Village: A Haunting Elegy by Oliver Goldsmith

The Deserted Village

by Oliver Goldsmith

4.4 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3199 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Print length	:	62 pages
Screen Reader	:	Supported

FREE

Published in 1770, The Deserted Village is a masterpiece of English poetry by Oliver Goldsmith. It is an elegy, a poem that laments the loss of something cherished. In this case, Goldsmith mourns the passing of a once-prosperous village that has fallen into ruin.

The poem is written in heroic couplets, a poetic form consisting of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines. This gives the poem a stately and formal tone, which is appropriate for its subject matter.

The poem begins with a description of the village in its former glory. It was a place of peace and plenty, where the villagers lived in harmony with nature.

Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,

Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,

Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,

And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed.

However, the village has fallen on hard times. The land has been enclosed by a wealthy landlord, and the villagers have been forced to leave their homes and find work elsewhere.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,

Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:

Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;

A breath can make them, as a breath has made;

Goldsmith's poem is a powerful indictment of the social and economic changes that were taking place in England at the time. He shows how the enclosure of common land and the rise of industrial capitalism led to the displacement of rural communities and the destruction of traditional ways of life.

The Deserted Village is not simply a nostalgic lament for a lost past. It is also a call for social justice and a warning about the dangers of unchecked greed and materialism.

But times are altered; trade's unfeeling train

Usurps the land, and dispossesses swain;

Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose,

Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose;

The Deserted Village is a timeless poem that speaks to the human condition. It is a reminder that even the most beautiful and prosperous places can be destroyed by the forces of greed and indifference.

If you are interested in reading more about The Deserted Village, here are some resources:

• The Deserted Village at the Poetry Foundation
• The Deserted Village at the British Library
• The Deserted Village on Our Book Library

The Deserted Village

by Oliver Goldsmith

4.4 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	3199 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Print length	:	62 pages
Screen Reader	:	Supported

FREE