The Deserted
Village
Study Guide by Course Hero
What's Inside
"The Deserted Village" is written in the past tense.
ABOUT THE TITLE
"The Deserted Village" describes the effects of commercialism
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1
on country life as farmland is purchased by the rich, forcing
populations of entire villages to leave their rural lives.
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3
h Characters .................................................................................................. 4
d In Context
k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5
c Plot Analysis ............................................................................................... 7
English Neoclassical
g Quotes ........................................................................................................... 9
Movement
l Symbols ...................................................................................................... 10
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 10
The English neoclassical movement embodied certain ideals
about correctness, decorum, restraint, and order that inspired
artists, including writers, to reproduce the style of Greek and
b Narrative Voice ........................................................................................ 12
Roman art. Although there are no clearly defined dates, the
neoclassical movement can be roughly divided into three eras:
the Restoration Age (1660–1700), in which English poet John
j Book Basics
Milton (1608–74) was one of the primary influencers; the
Augustan Age (1700–50), in which English poet Alexander
Pope (1688–1744) mastered the heroic couplet; and the Age of
AUTHOR
Johnson (1750–98), characterized by the works of Dr. Samuel
Oliver Goldsmith
Johnson (1709–84), one of the century's most important
literary figures.
YEAR PUBLISHED
1770
GENRE
Economics, Nature
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR
"The Deserted Village" is narrated in the first person. The
speaker reminisces about his childhood village and warns of
changes brought about by commercialism.
TENSE
Neoclassical Literature
Neoclassical literature is marked by imitation of the literature
and technique of Roman poets such as Virgil (70–19 BCE) and
Horace (65–8 BCE). "The Deserted Village" shows
characteristics of neoclassical literature, such as the emphasis
on rationality and the strict adherence to classical form and
order. For example, the poem features classical heroic
couplets—pairs of rhyming iambic pentameters in elevated
The Deserted Village Study Guide
In Context 2
style that form a unit in terms of both meter and rhetoric.
Deserted Village" idealizes rural life and landscapes, it can be
Although most neoclassical poetry is written in highly regulated
defined as a pastoral elegy, which specifically uses an elegy's
style, poets also explored self-expression. Among the primary
formal conventions against a pastoral backdrop.
personages of the period were Irish writer Jonathan Swift
(1667–1745), English poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744), and
English novelist Daniel Defoe (1660–1731). "The Deserted
Literary Response
Village" was written in 1770, during the Age of Johnson. After
1750 writers became more concerned with the anti-rationalist
In 1783 English poet George Crabbe (1754–1832) wrote the
themes that would lay the foundations for Romanticism, such
poem "The Village" in response to Goldsmith's poem. Crabbe
as emotion, imagination, and the natural world. Sentimental
believed Goldsmith's portrayal of rural life to be too idyllic and
novels like Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (1766) became
sentimental. Crabbe's poem attempts to realistically portray
increasingly popular as the neoclassical era saw the rise of the
the miserable suffering of the rural poor. At times, Crabbe's
novel as a genre, in addition to melodrama and satire.
poem seems to reference Goldsmith's middle-class upbringing
directly with lines such as "Yes, thus the Muses sing of happy
Pastoral Elegy
Pastoral literature of the later 18th century is a precursor to the
Romantic literary movement. It idealized rural life and
landscapes, portraying them as purer and generally superior to
the city. The poem's title, "The Deserted Village," references
the shift from rural to urban life, as entire populations,
displaced from the land by economic shifts and wealthy
landowners, left their agricultural lives behind during the British
Industrial Revolution (1760–1840), the period of increased
industrial and mechanized production that resulted in a move
away from an agrarian (related to farming and agriculture) and
handicraft economy. Goldsmith resented the coldhearted
pursuit of money and wrote achingly nostalgic poetry that
reminded audiences of the beauty of quaint villages and
agrarian life. Moreover, pastoral literature suggests happiness
can be found in nature while only corruption can be found in
swains, / Because the Muses never knew their pains." He
further reminds readers of the distance between a poet and
farmhand with the line "And few amid the rural tribe have time /
To number syllables and play with rhyme." Crabbe wonders
why any poet should "dare these real ills to hide / In tinsel
trappings of poetic pride" before speaking to the rural poor
directly: "Can poets soothe you, when you pine for bread, / By
winding myrtles round your ruined shed?" He wonders where
Goldsmith's playful swain are now; then he suggests they're
waiting on a cliff, "To fly in terror o'er the pathless waste" of
their farmlands. Crabbe describes the miserable, suffering
farmers, their joyless spouses, and their children huddling
around a "feeble fire," and then he asks the reader to "Go, look
within, and ask if peace be there." Although "The Village"
remains Crabbe's most well-known poem, critical reviews at
the time of its publication generally found it to be less effective
than Goldsmith's "The Deserted Village."
the city. The speaker in "The Deserted Village" espouses
similar ideas when he says, "These round thy bowers their
cheerful influence shed, / These were thy charms—But all
these charms are fled."
Industrialism
Goldsmith's nostalgia is a response to the industrial age, which
Additionally, "The Deserted Village" is an example of an elegy,
shifted emphasis from small, local economies to large,
a poem written to lament loss. Typically, elegies are written in
centralized ones. In England the Industrial Revolution, or the
first person to honor someone who has died. Rather than
First Industrial Revolution, as it's sometimes called, occurred
honoring a specific person, Goldsmith uses the form to lament
from 1760 to 1840. The advent of steam-powered technology
a lost way of life. The elegy's characteristically lyric language
led to the development of massive factories. The creation of
and use of formal style is evident in lines such as "The country
these factories and the accompanying jobs meant that there
blooms—a garden, and a grave" and "Where crouching tigers
was a surge in population in the cities as people moved there
wait their hapless prey, / And savage men, more murderous
in pursuit of work. The population of England swelled from 9
still than they." Elegies often rely on memories to conjure
million people at the start of the 1800s to 36 million by 1911.
emotion, such as Goldsmith's evocation of the schoolhouse
from his youth and the happy, laboring swain. Because "The
In addition to population surges, the consequences of
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industrialization included pollution, the exploitation of natural
resources, and the mistreatment of some classes of workers.
Author Biography 3
a Author Biography
Business owners realized how much money they could make in
a short period of time through industrialization. A task that took
one worker an hour could suddenly be completed much more
quickly with the help of a machine. Business owners often
abused their workers, demanding long hours for low pay and
refusing to offer safety or health protections. But it didn't
matter how horrific the work conditions, there were always
hundreds of eager workers leaving their farms and traveling to
the city with the hope of finding work in a factory. Many
Victorian novelists, Charles Dickens (1812–70) most notably,
captured the harsh realities of industrialization.
Early Years and the Move to
London
Oliver Goldsmith was born in Ireland on November 10, 1730. His
father was an Anglo-Irish minister serving at Kilkenny West,
County Westmeath. The young Goldsmith studied at Trinity
College, Dublin, and then moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to
pursue a medical degree. This venture was not successful,
Goldsmith starkly contrasts life in the village to life in the city.
however, even though he became popularly known thereafter
He opens the poem with images of happy villagers sharing a
as "Dr. Goldsmith." The young student toured Europe, and in
picnic, flirting innocently, and enjoying a neighborly gathering.
1756, he arrived in London, where he was to remain for the rest
He contrasts that scene of nostalgia with images of death and
of his rather eccentric and colorful literary career.
destruction in the city.
Enclosure Acts
Literary Life
In Goldsmith's time, "Grub Street" was the symbolic shorthand
During and after the Industrial Revolution, the government
for indigent, or poor, authors: writers striving to make a living in
passed a series of Enclosure Acts (1750–1850) that further
an era of revolutionary change in the world of books. In the
isolated the peasantry from their land, thus forcing them into
second half of the 18th century, serious reading began to grip
the cities for survival. Before the Enclosure Acts came into
the interest of the English public. Literary reputations were
effect, villagers could access open fields and so-called wastes
there to be made, yet at the same time competition was fierce
(unproductive areas such as marshes, rocky land, or moors) for
and rewards often scant. Numerous writers began by "hack
personal use. This provision meant that villagers could graze
writing": projects that included compilations of the works of
their cattle in open fields, fish in the marshes, collect firewood,
others, hastily knocked off biographies, reports on fashions
or harvest wild plants. For many poor agricultural workers,
and politics, and canned histories.
access to open fields and wastes (uncultivated lands) was the
only means of staving off starvation. Enclosure Acts sought to
Oliver Goldsmith, blessed with an untiring curiosity and
make land more productive—and therefore more profitable.
appealing writing style, made the most of his gifts. By any
standard, the diversity of his output is impressive. In the 1760s
To prevent villagers from collecting resources from the land,
and early 1770s he composed minor classics in a variety of
the government started fencing, or enclosing, fields. The
genres: essay-like letters in The Citizen of the World (1762),
communal land was essentially seized from communities that
pastoral poetry in The Deserted Village (1770), a picaresque
relied on it for survival and divvied up to paying farmers. Often,
novel in The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), and comic drama in She
small farmers couldn't afford the fees to access enclosed land,
Stoops to Conquer (1773).
so it was given to wealthy companies or those with strong
political connections. This situation left many poor agricultural
In the first of these works Goldsmith satirizes society by
workers with three options: work the land as tenant farmers for
recording the experience of a Chinese visitor to London. In The
the wealthy landowner, emigrate to the New World, or move to
Deserted Village, he creates picaresque, or rascally and
the city to compete for limited jobs and thus drive down wages.
dishonest, characters against the background of a declining
way of life: the 1760s saw the peak of the enclosure movement
in England, during which wealthy landlords evicted poor
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Characters 4
farmers and peasants in the name of agricultural efficiency.
much. For most of the poem, the speaker addresses the
The Vicar of Wakefield also offers portraits of village life along
changing world at large and returns to his personal views at
with a certain amount of sentimentality. In She Stoops to
the poem's closing. He says goodbye to his sentimentalized
Conquer, Goldsmith foreshadows in some ways his fellow
village, and in the poem's final lines hopes that his poem will
dramatist Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), who
stop similar villages from being consumed by the same greed
triumphed on the comic stage with such plays as The Rivals
that destroyed Auburn.
(1775) and The School for Scandal (1777).
Final Years and Legacy
By 1764 Goldsmith had made enough of a mark on the London
literary scene to be included as a founding member of the
Literary Club, known at the time as the "Club," a group of
writers, artists, and statesmen who gathered weekly for supper
and conversation under the guidance of Samuel Johnson
(1709–84), the most eminent writer of the age. Goldsmith had
especially cordial relations with Johnson and with several other
Club members, such as the painter Joshua Reynolds
(1723–92), the statesman Edmund Burke (1729–97), and the
biographer James Boswell (1740–95). Johnson, a particularly
energetic patron, later composed the inscription for
Goldsmith's memorial in Westminster Abbey, which begins by
describing him as one who left scarcely any kind of writing
untouched and "touched nothing that he did not adorn."
Paradoxically, however, Goldsmith's elegant style of writing
clashed with incompetence and extravagance in his personal
affairs. He tended toward the brash and even foolish in other
people's company, striving for attention and admiration. A
heavy gambler, he was often overwhelmed by debt. Johnson is
also said to have remarked of him, "No man was more foolish
when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had."
Goldsmith died in London on April 4, 1774, at age 45. He is
remembered and read largely for his vivid characters, elegant
use of the rhymed couplet in verse, and sharp wit.
h Characters
Speaker
Narrating in the first person, the speaker remembers Auburn,
the village of his childhood, and he laments that he will never
be able to retire and die there because it has changed too
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Full Character List
Character
Description
Speaker
The speaker is a middle-​aged man who
returns to his childhood village. He
reminisces about the happy years of his
childhood before blaming wealthy
landowners and society's greed for
destroying the happy village of his
memory.
Plot Summary 5
Lines 1–34
The speaker describes Auburn, the village of his childhood.
Each scene is constructed nostalgically, highlighting beauty in
memory. The weather is always perfect; the people are filled
with "humble happiness." The buildings are "never-failing ...
busy ... and decent." He describes how everyone works hard
and then enjoys their leisure time together on the rolling hills,
playing sports or dancing. He also describes a heartwarming
scene of young lovers flirting while a scolding matron watches
with disapproval. The nostalgic scenes end suddenly with the
Preacher
The speaker reminisces fondly about
the village preacher, who was paid a
modest salary and cared for everyone in
the village equally. The preacher is likely
based on Reverend Henry Goldsmith (d.
1768), the poet's brother.
Rich man
On a figurative level the rich man
Goldsmith criticizes throughout the
poem, whom he also calls "the tyrant," is
a symbol for any man who values
moneymaking over the lives of his
neighbor. On a literal level the rich man
is thought to reference General Robert
Napper, the wealthy man who bought
tracts of land around Lissoy, forcing
Goldsmith's neighbors off their land.
statement "But all these are charms are fled."
Lines 35–74
Between the cozy houses the speaker sees the effect of the
"tyrant" and the "master" on the "smiling plain." In the presence
of such evil, everyone has left the now-"desolate" village. The
only guests are bittern birds that guard their nests with
"hollow-sounding" calls. The once-cozy houses have sunken
and molded. The speaker laments that the village—once filled
with "bold peasantry" that was the "country's pride"—is now
deserted. Everyone has left to chase wealth in the city, which
the speaker calls the place where "men decay." This, the
speaker claims, is where "England's griefs began." People used
Schoolmaster
Widow
The schoolmaster is a man the speaker
thinks of fondly when returning to the
village of his childhood. Described as
stern but kind and intelligent, he is
thought to be based on Thomas (Paddy)
Byrne, Goldsmith's childhood teacher.
to be happy simply when their needs were met, but with the
The widow is an old woman, a "wretched
matron" who suffers terribly after the
Enclosure Acts. She is thought to be
based on Catherine Giraghty, an elderly
woman Goldsmith knew from his
childhood in Lissoy.
Lines 75–136
rise of trade people longed for opulence and "unwieldy wealth."
They longed to ease "every pang that folly pays to pride." This
greed caused the decay of "rural mirth and manners."
The speaker describes returning home after years away,
taking "solitary rounds" amid the dangled walkways and "ruined
grounds." All around him he sees evidence of "the tyrant's
power." Seeing how run-down the once-beautiful village has
k Plot Summary
become fills the speaker's heart with emotion. He had long
wished to return to Auburn as an old man, but it is his greatest
grief to realize this will be impossible. Again, the speaker
recounts images of the happy, bustling village where children
came singing from school, and even the noisy watchdogs,
geese, and nightingales sounded like "sweet confusion." Now,
the population has been displaced, leaving behind only a feeble
"wretched matron" who forages for food and cries herself to
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sleep each night.
Plot Summary 6
her spoils. In doing so, the rich expand their boundaries. They
push away the poor to make more room for their horses and
Lines 137–192
dogs. The rich rob their neighbors of half the silk in their fields
simply to make themselves another robe. The land had enough
riches for everyone to enjoy, but the wealthy strip it barren for
The speaker recalls the village preacher. The place where his
their own gain.
"modest mansion" once stood is now overgrown with
wildflowers. He ran a "godly race" and was rewarded with a
salary of £40 per year. The preacher never sought riches or
Lines 287–340
fame—he only wanted to care for the wretched. He dedicated
his life to easing others' pain, whether they were injured
The speaker compares the land to a young woman who needs
soldiers or ruined "spendthrifts." Regardless of the beggars'
no "adornment" to show off her beauty. As time passes,
backgrounds, the preacher pitied and cared for them all: "He
however, the land needs such adornment to maintain its charm,
watched and wept, he prayed and felt, for all." His sermons
but it has been betrayed. There's no way of covering up the
were rousing—even fools who came to mock the church
"impotence" and "decline" of its splendors that transformed the
stayed to hear him. Everyone, from adults to children, longed to
"smiling land" into a "scourged," or tortured, place. It has been
be near him.
transformed from a blooming garden to a blooming grave. The
speaker wonders where the poor should live if the rich push
Lines 193–250
Near the church was a noisy school where a stern
them off their native land.
Lines 341–384
schoolmaster ruled strictly. The speaker knew the
schoolmaster well, as did the rest of the village truants. Despite
The poor must travel through "dreary scenes" with "fainting
the schoolmaster's stern appearance, he was kind and loved to
steps." Eventually, they will arrive at "that horrid shore" that the
teach. The children, in rapt attention, used to wonder how
speaker describes as if he were describing Hell: either some
much knowledge could be crammed into one man's head. But
overcrowded city or some wilderness. To him, the city is a
now no one remembers the schoolmaster's wisdom. The
place where "birds forget to sing" and "the dark scorpion
school, once lovingly cared for with "white-washed wall" and a
gathers death around." The speaker carefully contrasts this
"nicely sanded floor," now sinks into obscurity. It lies unused
hellish scene with the "cooling brook" and "grassy vested
and forgotten, alongside every other pleasure of the village
green" of the village. He imagines what it might have been like
where the barber told tales, the woodsmen swapped stories,
for the traveling villagers to look upon their homes for the final
and "coy maids" passed drinks.
time. He paints a heartbreaking scene of a family tearfully
saying goodbye to each other.
Lines 251–286
Lines 385–430
The speaker knows the rich mock his nostalgia for home, but
this cruelty only makes him fonder of the "simple blessings" of
The speaker curses luxury. People want luxury, so they leave
his "lowly" beginnings. Everyone else seems to love the "gloss
their "pleasures" behind to seek its "insidious joy." Even as the
of art," working hard to obtain its expensive beauty. The
speaker stands now, he can see "the rural virtues leave the
speaker much prefers the beautiful images of memory that
land." He recalls days of "contented toil" and "hospitable care"
"lightly ... frolic" over his "vacant mind." He goes on to blame the
when people worked hard and were kind to each other. They
rich for chasing "wanton wealth," claiming their greed hastens
were pious, faithful, and loving, but now they are greedy and
"the poor's decay." The rich must decide where to draw the line
cruel. The speaker feels a sense of shame at the way the
between a "splendid," or opulent, land and a happy one. The
villagers have changed. Finally, he says goodbye to the village
land is rich, and men come from around the world to plunder
of his memory, with the hopes that time might "redress the
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Plot Analysis 7
rigors of the inclement clime" and bring both truth and humility
with shivering, weeping peasants. There's no place to find
back to the land.
peace or rest. In nine lines, Goldsmith describes the city as
filled with "silent bats," "poisonous fields," "dark scorpion[s],"
"rattling terrors," "vengeful snakes," "crouching tigers,"
c Plot Analysis
"savage men," and "mad tornado[s]," and as a "ravaged
landscape." Goldsmith immediately contrasts the city with
the village, which he describes as having a "cooling brook,"
Poetic Elements and Form
"grassy vested green," "breezy covert," "warbling grove,"
and "harmless love."
"The Deserted Village" is written in heroic couplets, which are
pairs of rhyming lines of iambic pentameter. A line of verse
Exaltation of Agrarian
written in iambic pentameter contains five feet; each foot
comprises an unstressed and stressed syllable. Heroic
Economy
couplets reached the height of their popularity during the
Augustan Age of literature (1700–50). Oliver Goldsmith also
Goldsmith's primary purpose in writing "The Deserted Village"
used the following poetic elements:
is to evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for village life. He
Alliteration: repetition of the same consonant sound. In the
first few stanzas the reader hears "humble happiness,"
"succeeding sports," "sweet succession," and "light labor."
Later in the poem, Goldsmith writes "sweet confusion
sought the shade" and "whitewashed walls."
Metaphor: indirect comparison of two objects, usually by
describing one object as another. On a large scale,
Goldsmith uses the fictional village of Auburn to represent
all villages. By the end of the poem, the run-down, decrepit
village becomes a metaphor for abandoned rural life and the
effects of industrialization on society. On a smaller scale,
Goldsmith uses the image of a woman as a metaphor for
Auburn. First, the village is described as "some fair female,
unadorned and plain." As people begin to leave, the
metaphorical woman feels the loss: "Her friends, her virtue,
demonizes life in the city, suggesting that entire populations of
villagers, or "poor exiles," as he calls them, are being lost to the
"bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe": the city. To achieve this
goal, Goldsmith uses idealized descriptions of people,
buildings, and the village itself to evoke nostalgia. 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. He even includes
characters based on real-life members of his old hometown.
Goldsmith's brother, Rev. Henry Goldsmith, is the inspiration
for the poem's nurturing, riveting preacher. Thomas "Paddy"
Byrne, Goldsmith's first-grade teacher, is the poem's stern but
kind schoolmaster, and Catherine Giraghty, a suffering widow
in Lissoy, is the poem's "wretched matron" hunting for
watercress (an edible aquatic plant) for survival.
fled." The fleeing "virtues" or "morals" signal the final
In order to give the poem a nostalgic feel for all readers,
transition, when that "wholesome" woman has now become
Goldsmith uses type characters, which readers can easily
a prostitute, leaving her "wheel and robes of country brown"
recognize and identify with. He uses the swain, for example, as
in the place where "courtier[s] glitter in brocade."
a symbol of a healthy, hardworking youth. He describes the
Melodrama: sensationalism used for the purpose of
"bashful virgin" in the same way—she isn't a specific young
appealing to an audience's emotions. Akin to sentimentality,
woman, but a young woman with the virtues any reader can
melodrama uses over-the-top descriptions to make
recognize and respect. In this way, the author creates a sense
audiences feel a certain way. The descriptions aren't
of nostalgia in all his readers, not just those who can
realistic or balanced but are completely one-sided and
immediately identify with a country childhood. He describes the
exaggerated. The best example of melodrama in "The
buildings in the same way, as filled with charm: "The sheltered
Deserted Village" can be found in Goldsmith's descriptions
cot, the cultivated farm ... the busy mill, / The decent church."
of the big city, which he describes as a "bloated mass of
No matter where readers grew up, they can recognize and feel
rank unwieldy woe" filled with prostitution, crime, and
nostalgia for the "smiling village" of Auburn and its inhabitants.
suffering. Every description is harsh, from the glaring
When readers feel nostalgia, they also feel sorrow and
torches to clashing, rattling chariots and doorways filled
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indignation at the destruction Goldsmith describes.
Plot Analysis 8
capitalized to accentuate its personification. It too has been
evicted from traditional village life. "Farewell," Goldsmith bids
Social Criticism
Poetry; "still let thy voice ... aid slighted truth with thy
persuasive strain." Unlike the farmers, Goldsmith did not grow
up poor. He was raised in a wealthy family and attended an
Goldsmith is not just idealizing a golden age of the past; he is
elite university, and he lived a relatively luxurious life as an
issuing a warning that the nation of England is facing a crisis.
adult. Yet by including Poetry as a loss to greed, he allows
By regularly juxtaposing nostalgic reminiscences with stark
himself to be cast alongside the impoverished. As the speaker
depictions of the present, Goldsmith effectively evokes both
of the poem, he is rendered just as wretched by the
readers' sympathy for the displaced poor and the dark
destruction of old values and ways of life.
prospects of a future of unchecked commercialism.
Goldsmith isn't concerned the displaced farmers will end up in
cities only: he fears they will be blown to the far corners of the
earth. In line 344 he mentions "Altama," also called Altamaha, a
river in the state of Georgia. In Goldsmith's day, Georgia was
used by England as a penal colony. Thus, Goldsmith hints at his
fear that the displaced peasants may end up committing
crimes in the city for which they will be "transported," or sent to
America. Then in line 418 he mentions "Torno," the Torne River
in northern Sweden, juxtaposing this with Pambamarca, one of
the summits of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. By
mentioning these two places, Goldsmith gathers arctic and
equatorial extremes, implying that displaced farmers could end
up just about anywhere—and very likely in a climate more
hostile than England's.
In 1761 Goldsmith himself witnessed the displacement of
villagers; he includes this experience in "The Deserted Village."
All of these villagers must move not merely because of
industrialization or because their farms are no longer lucrative,
but because a rich man (the tyrant of the poem) has bought up
all their land. Goldsmith calls him a tyrant, but he has
accumulated all his land legally. Laws enacted by Parliament,
including the Enclosure Acts, allowed the government to sell to
the highest bidder what had previously been communal land.
Wealthy people grabbed up land quickly, using their new
property as the entertainment grounds Goldsmith points out in
the poem: "Space for his lake, his parks' extended bounds, /
Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds." The spreading
luxury appears to signal an economic boom for society, but
Goldsmith reminds readers that, as "splendors rise," peasants
are "scourged by famine" from the land. He reminds readers
again and again that "the rich man's joys increase, the poor's
decay," and "the man of wealth and pride / Takes up a space
that many poor supplied."
Toward the end of the poem Goldsmith invokes Poetry,
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g Quotes
"Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of
the plain."
— Speaker
This, the opening line of the poem, exemplifies the speaker's
sentimentality. The village he describes in the following lines is
faultless, pure, and unspoiled.
"Where health and plenty cheered
the laboring swain."
Quotes 9
human suffering and death.
"The rich man's joys increase, the
poor's decay."
— Speaker
The speaker directly links the actions of the wealthy—through
unmentioned Enclosure Acts and labor exploitation—with the
decreased living quality of the poor.
"The man of wealth and pride /
Takes up a space that many poor
supplied."
— Speaker
— Speaker
This line is an example of the speaker's rose-colored view of
rural life. He presents images of healthy young men ("swains")
This line explains the speaker's views on the Enclosure Acts,
who long for nothing. Even though farming and small-town life
which he believed pushed the hardworking poor off their land
is not all innocence and prosperity, portraying it as such drives
to the benefit of the wealthy.
home the speaker's point.
"The country blooms—a garden,
"But all these charms are fled."
— Speaker
An image of the "tyrant's hand" creeps into the picturesque
village scene. The villagers have no choice but to leave their
homes, taking their morality and "charms" with them.
and a grave."
— Speaker
While the rich use excess land to expand their recreational
space, such as for a garden, it pushes the starving poor into
their graves and thrives off their death.
"Where wealth accumulates, and
"Here while the courtier glitters in
men decay."
brocade, / There the pale artist
— Speaker
The speaker sees a direct link between
plies the sickly trade."
— Speaker
industrialization—machines, factories, and corporations—and
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The Deserted Village Study Guide
Symbols 10
In the city everyone takes advantage of each other to line their
poor houseless shivering female." She has no choice but to lie
own pockets. The speaker describes two unsavory characters
near "her betrayer's door" begging for food. Goldsmith notes
on the street hustling to make money off their fellow man.
the young woman's lost virtues and stories of "innocence
distrest," suggesting she has no choice but prostitution. The
young woman serves as a warning for anyone who heads
"Where crouching tigers wait their
hapless prey, / And savage men,
"ambitious [to] the town." By leaving their "wheel and robes of
country brown"—their rural roots—villagers will face the same
abysmal fate.
more murderous still than they."
— Speaker
Auburn
The speaker describes the terrifying city where innocent
villagers walk into certain exploitation or death. The city
The village of Auburn symbolizes Goldsmith's sentimental
provides the perfect foil for the speaker's sentimentality. While
views of rural life. Goldsmith uses a singular village to
the village is an image of unflawed beauty, the city is
represent villages across Britain. In Goldsmith's imagery the
irredeemably evil.
lovely, picturesque villages are filled with happy farmhands.
The young men swell with "health and plenty," and they are
happy to work because it's "light labor." In the afternoons they
"I see the rural virtues leave the
picnic on the village green and play sports together, filling their
land."
air with songs and laughter. Every river, brook, building, and hill
is described as busy, humble, never-failing, and decent. All
social interactions are sweet, innocent, and charming.
— Speaker
Goldsmith uses Auburn to warn against the changes caused by
industrialism. The once-picturesque, happy village decays as
As the poor are pushed from their land, they take their "rural
the greedy landowners "steal" back land and force villagers to
virtues," or morality, with them. The speaker suggests that
the city for survival. Goldsmith suggests that the decay of rural
villagers are purely good and city dwellers are purely corrupt.
life equates to Britain's moral ruin.
As commercialism spreads across England, it stifles morality.
l Symbols
Young Woman
m Themes
Innocence of Rural Life
"The Deserted Village" was written with the express purpose
The young woman described in lines 326–340 symbolizes the
of evoking strong emotions in the readers. Goldsmith wanted
damage Goldsmith believes has befallen rural life in the wake
his audience to feel a sense of longing for village life and to
of industrialism. Before moving to the city, the young woman
turn away from the corruption of city life. To accomplish this,
was innocent and as "sweet as the primrose peeps beneath
Goldsmith describes everything in the village as lovely,
the thorn." She was as modest as the cottage where she once
peaceful, and innocent. He opens the poem with images of
lived. Now she is in the city, all "her friends, her virtue fled."
picnickers enjoying a beautiful day in the "loveliest village of
Hungry and alone, the young woman is now described as "the
the plain." The villagers are virtuous and innocent. They play
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The Deserted Village Study Guide
Themes 11
sports together on the village green; youths flirt chastely, and
"sons of pleasure" feel joy "extorted from his fellow-creature's
hardworking farmhands are filled with "humble happiness" as
woe." The rich have been so corrupted by greed that they turn
they complete their "light labor." Even the village itself is
a blind eye to their fellow man's suffering.
described as "sweet smiling," because everything in Auburn is
idyllic, beautiful, and pure.
But they aren't the only ones to blame. Goldsmith also argues
that greed corrupts the wholesome villager who seeks a new
The romantic, rosy view of rural life fails to consider the real
life. He uses an innocent village woman to symbolize this
reasons many chose to leave their agricultural lives behind. It
corruption. While living in the village, the woman was as "sweet
was hard to make a living, even before the Enclosure Acts
as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn," but in the city she
Goldsmith demonizes came into effect, yet all the villagers
becomes a "poor houseless shivering female." She casts aside
Goldsmith describes are happy, healthy, and content. They
her modesty and virtues, leaving behind her "wheel and robes
have enough food to cater village picnics and enough strength
of country brown" to beg at "proud men's doors."
left over from their "light labor" to play sports and lounge on
the common green. Of course, this was not the reality for most
villagers at the time, many of whom worked long hours at
backbreaking labor to avoid starvation. Modern readers may
Resilience in a Changing World
note, in fact, as some of Goldsmith's contemporary critics did,
that in his idealization of Auburn the poet ignores the
ignorance and poverty associated with rural life that might
Goldsmith wrote "The Deserted Village" during the rapid
have contributed to the decline of farm towns. Just the same,
industrialization of Britain. The poet notes in lines 63–64 that
the poem encourages readers to turn away from luxury and
"times are altered; trade's unfeeling train / Usurp the land and
greed, and to embrace simple happiness, or contentment in
dispossess the swain." What he means is that times are
one's current situation, instead.
changing. Commercialization and privatization—moneymaking,
in other words—have pushed hardworking young men off their
land. Before the Enclosure Acts went into effect, Goldsmith
Corruption and Greed
argues, young men like this swain worked "light labor" for just
enough to be happy "but no more." The men were wholesome,
innocent, and healthy. Now, however, the young swain's
contentment has been overtaken by greed, or as Goldsmith
The primary source of corruption in "The Deserted Village" is
calls it, "unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp." Now, the young
greed, especially that of the rich who covet fertile, rural land for
man has fallen into the grip of "the tyrant's power"; he no
their own moneymaking. Goldsmith also calls out the villagers
longer has "rural mirth and manners." Despite this changing
who move to the city in search of luxury, although he notes
world, Goldsmith reminds audiences that the hardworking
that they have been "allured to brighter worlds" by tricksters,
poor, the "bold peasantry," are "their country's pride."
the "dark scorpions" and "vengeful snakes" he refers to later in
the poem.
Initially, Goldsmith suggests that this culture can never be
repaired once commercialism destroys it, yet he offers hope of
Two primary sources of greed corrupt the idyllic village life:
resilience at the poem's closing. He hopes his words spread his
first, the landowners who took advantage of the Enclosure
warning against industrialism and that the voice of his "sweet
Acts. Goldsmith writes of "the man of wealth and pride" who
Poetry" will help "redress the rigors of the inclement clime." In
uses his "tyrant's hand" to steal "a space that many poor
the final lines he offers hope that his persuasive truth will
supplied." In Goldsmith's account the landowners steal the land
"teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain." In short, if society
for their own entertainment. The rich man needs "space for his
can shun its greed, it "may still be very blest."
lake, his park's extended bounds / Space for his horses,
equipage, and hounds." With nowhere left to turn, the villagers
must leave their humble homes in search of a new life in the big
city, where businessmen further seek to exploit their labor. The
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The Deserted Village Study Guide
b Narrative Voice
Narrative Voice 12
destruction of old ways of life. It is in Poetry that he places his
last hope as he urges its "voice, prevailing over time," to "teach
erring man to spurn the rage of gain"—that is, to right the
Written in neoclassical style, "The Deserted Village" is a
wrongs he has described. As a contemporary reviewer wryly
reflective poem about the social inequities caused by changes
pointed out, if Poetry had fled the land, readers "should not
in British agricultural policies. Neoclassical writers honored the
have had the pleasure" of reading the poem. However,
epic grandeur of ancient Greeks and Romans by employing
inserting himself—a fellow exile—into the poem contributes to
traditional form and style. Traditional narration influences the
what scholar Louise Pound has called the "sincere interest and
poem's narrative voice in both its first part, where the speaker
genuine sorrow" that infuses the poem with its "sympathy and
idealizes the fictional town of Auburn with a nostalgic tone, and
grace."
its latter parts, which describe the town's ruin and the exile of
its original inhabitants.
The first-person speaker communicates in traditional heroic
couplets, or rhyming pairs of lines in iambic pentameter. The
style gives the poem a sense of formality: "Sweet AUburn,
LOVEliest VILlage OF the PLAIN / Where HEALTH and
PLENty CHEERED the LAboring SWAIN." The use of
sentimental images such as a "dancing pair that simply sought
renown" and a "bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love"
contribute to the nostalgic mood of the poem's opening.
Hyperbolic adjectives add to the rosy portrait of Auburn: "the
sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, / The never-failing brook, the
busy mill."
The speaker's intention is revealed in line 34: "These were thy
charms—But all these charms are fled." Now the formal
language expresses the injustices of a policy that allows rich
landowners to drive out poor farmers. Precise detail and
hyperbole make the speaker's point. The rich man, for
instance—now taking up the space "that many poor
supplied"—uses that space for his lake, park, "horses, equipage
and hounds."
Having established the ruin of the town, the speaker turns to
the future of its poor farmers. "If to the city sped," the speaker
asks, what awaits the former occupants of Auburn? In answer
he describes "various terrors" such as "savage men, more
murderous still" than tigers. The personification of Auburn as
an innocent woman turned to ruin conveys the speaker's sense
of personal outrage. He speaks of it as a woman whose
"modest looks" once adorned (decorated) a cottage as sweetly
as a primrose but who is now a "poor houseless shivering
female."
As the town's exiles depart on ships for wildernesses unknown,
a "melancholy band," Poetry leaves along with them. The
speaker is made as wretched as his characters at the
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