Summary of the poem ‘The Village Schoolmaster’ by Oliver Goldsmith:

                                                           The poem ‘The Village Schoolmaster’ is written by Oliver Goldsmith. The present poem is an extract from his ‘Deserted Village’. The poem deals with effect of modernization on a small village called ‘Auburn’ and also it describes about the village schoolmaster and his special abilities and qualities.

                                                           The poet returns to his village after a long span of time but now the village is deserted by modernization, because all the people of the village have emigrated and no one is there to enjoy the beauty of the village. So the poet mourning about the loss of heritage of the village. The poet remembers his Village Schoolmaster. He was lived in a big mansion and taught in a little school. Now the mansion of village schoolmaster is surrounded by fence with blossoming grass but that was useless according to the poet because no one is there to enjoy the beauty of the grass.

                                                          The Village Schoolmaster was a strict person and disciplinarian. The students were afraid of him and they had the ability to trace the morning face of the schoolmaster and to tell whether that day would bring any misfortune or not. In spite of strictness, the schoolmaster was jolly. He always used to tell jokes and all students laughed at all his jokes, even they were not funny. If they noticed any sign of anger on his face, they would spread the news throughout the classroom.

                                                     The schoolmaster was, in reality, a kind hearted person and he never hesitates to learn from his own faults. The villagers declared that the schoolmaster was a scholar of the village and he had special abilities like he could write, workout sums, survey land, forecast the time and tide(which means he could tell weather conditions of the day) and measure the content of a vessel. Schoolmaster was a master at argument, even he defeated he could argue still. The villagers wondered about schoolmaster’s deep knowledge and his thundering voice. So they always gathered around him and the most amazing thing for the villagers was that how one small head of the village schoolmaster carry all knowledge. Thus the poem, ‘The Village Schoolmaster’ is most unique poem of Oliver Goldsmith, which describes about the special abilities and qualities of a village schoolmaster.

Omkar Hosalli

English Language Teacher

Government Adarsha Vidyalaya, Aurad [B]